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THE 



LIIPE 



SPEECHES AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



GEN. JAMES A, GARFIELD 



OF OHIO, 



RUSSELL H. CONWELL, 

AUTHOR OF " LIFE OF PRESIDENT HAYES," " LIFE OF BAYARD TAYLOR," ETC., ETC. 
WITH INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. MARK HOPKINS, D. D., 

EX-PRESIDENT OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 



7^ 



BOSTON : 



'h 



PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL & CO., 57 CORNHILL 

PHILADELPHIA : QUAKER CITY PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

NEW YORK : CHARLES DREW. PORTLAND : JOHN RUSSELL. 

CHICAGO : J. FAIRBANKS & CO. INDIANAPOLIS, IND: 

FRED L. HORTON & CO. 

1880. 



T 



t u 



c 



nn 



COPYRIGHT 

3y B. B. RUSSELL & CO. 
1880. 



Printed by 

N'ASH & FREDERICKS, 

46 Federal Street, 

Boston. 



DEDIC^¥I§N. 



TO MRS. ELIZA GARFIELD, AND TO HER SISTER, MRS. ALPHA 

BOYNTON, PIONEERS AND CO-WORKERS IN THE DE- 

VELOPMENT OF A GREAT STATE, THIS BOOK IS 

GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. FROM SUCH 

SPRANG THE NOBLEST AND MOST 

POWERFUL RACES OF MANKIND. 



PREFACE. 



It is a delicate and difficult task to write the record 
of any man's life under any circumstances, and the work 
is the more arduous and perplexing when he of whom we 
write is still in active fields of labor and engaged in 
Political contests. To measure a man's success and 
pa»s an unbiased judgment upon his career, while the 
events of a single day may mar the picture, and while 
great political parties have much to gain by misrepresen- 
tafioQ or falsehood concerning the subject of the biogra- 
phy, is an undertaking full of perplexity and anxiety. 
Such a task was this when the writer entered upon 
it. There was a sudden and unusual interest taken in 
the History of General Garfield owing to his nominntion 
for the Presidency of the United States by a strong 
political party, and a great demand created for a trust- 
worthy account of his life. That fact coupled with the 
probable benefit which the biography would be to the 
thousands of young men in America who need the en- 
couragement which the success of General Garfield 
gives, led to the preparation of this work. The writer 
asks the indulgence of the reader in view of thQ diffi- 



PREFACE. 

culties and the haste in which this volume was written, 
but assures all who read it, however, that the facts 
herein stated have been collated with much care, and 
the conclusions herein drawn have been inserted with- 
out political or social bias. It is the earnest hope of the 
writer that the biography of General Garfield in some 
form may find its way into every library and that the 
interest in it may long outlive any political excitement 
concerning it ; for the lessons it teaches, the courage it 
imparts, the love of honor and truth it awakens, and the 
sweet pictures of domestic affection, filial devotion, 
patriotic heroism and religious faith which it reveals in 
our American life, cannot be valued too highly in the 
education of future generations. Of such a life it is a 
duty and a pleasure to write, and of such, he believes it 
will be a duty and a pleasure to read. 



INTRODUCTION 



Williams' College, July 14, 1880. 
R. H. CoNWELL, Esq. : 

Dear Sir:- — You ask some account of the college 
life of General Garfield. I remember no incidents 
worthy of note, but some characteristics may be 
given. Any thing that may aid the people in form- 
ing a judgment of his fitness for the office to which 
he is nominated, they have a right to. 

My first remark then is, that General Garfield was 
not sent to college. He cafue. This often makes a 
distinction between college students. To some, col- 
lege is chiefly a place of aimless transition through 
the perilous period between boyhood and manhood. 
Without fixed principles, and with no definite aim, 
with an aversion to study, rather than a love of it, 
they seek to get along with the least possible effort. 
Between the whole attitude and bearing of such, 
and of one who comes, the contrast is like that be- 
tween mechanical and vital force. In what General 
Garfield did, there was nothing mechanical. He not 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

only came, but made sacrifices to come. His work 
was from a vital force, and so was without fret or 
worry. He came with a high aim, and pursued it 
steadily. 

A second remark is, that the studies of General 
Garfield had breadth. As every student should, he 
made it his first business to master the studies of the 
class-room. This he did ; but the college furnishes 
facilities, and is intended — especially in the latter 
part of its course — to furnish opportunity, for gain- 
ing general knowledge, and for self-directed culture. 
To many, the most valuable result of their college 
course is from these. What they have affinity for, 
they find, and often make most valuable acquisitions 
in general literature, in history, in natural science 
and in politics. Of these facilities, and of this oppor- 
tunity, General Garfield availed himself largely. Of 
his tendency towards politics in those days, we have 
an illustration in a poem, entitled " Sam," which he 
delivered while in college, and in which he satirized 
the Know-nothing party. He manifested, while in 
college, the same tendency towards breadth which 
he has since ; for it is well known that he has been a 
general scholar and a statesman, rather than a mere 
politician. 

And as General Garfield was broad in his scholar- 
ship, so was he in his sympathies. No one thought 
of him as a recluse, or as bookish. Not given to 
athletic sports, he was fond of them. His mind was 
.open to the impressions of natural scenery, and as 
his constitution was vigorous, he knew well the fine 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

points on the mountains around us. He was also 
social in his disposition, both giving and inspiring, 
confidence. So true is this of his intercourse with 
the officers of the college, as well as with others, that 
he was never even suspected of any thing low or 
trickish ; and hence, in part, the confidence I have 
always felt in his integrity. He had a quick eye for 
any thing that turned up with a ludicrous side to it, 
and celebrated a trick the Freshmen played on the 
Sophomores, by a clever parody, of Tennyson's 
"Charge of the Light Brigade," published in the 
Williams Quarterly. Respecting always the individ- 
uality of others, and commanding, without exacting, 
their respect, he was a general favorite with his asso- 
ciates. 

A further point in General Garfield's course of 
study, worthy of remark, was its evenness. There 
was nothing startling at any one time, and no special 
preference for any one study. There was a large, 
general capacity, applicable to any subject, and sound 
sense. As he was more mature than most, he natu- 
rally had a readier and firmer grasp of the higher 
studies. Hence, his appointment to the metaphysi- 
cal oration, then one of the high honors of the class. 
What he did was done with facility, but by honest 
and avowed work. There was no pretence of genius, 
or alternation of spasmodic effort and of rest, but a 
satisfactory accomplishment, in all directions, of 
what was undertaken. Hence, there was a steady, 
healthful, onward and upward progress, such as has 
characterized his course since his graduation. If 



lO INTRODUCTION. 

that course should still be upward, it would add 
another to the grand illustrations we have already 
of the spirit of our free institutions. 

The above views were substantially held by me, 
as far back as 1864. 

Truly yours, 

Mark Hopkins. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Gksnealogy of the Garfield Family. — Earliest Mention of them in Eng- 
land. —Associated with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favor- 
ite of Queen Elizabeth. —The Family in Wales. —The Home of 
Edward Garfield in Chester, England. —The First oi the Family 
in America. — The Coat of Arms. —History of Captain Benjamin 
Garfield. — Abraham Garfield at the Concord Fight, in 1775. — 
Emigration of Solomon to New York State. — Death of Thomas 
at Worcester, N. Y. — Birth of Abraham Garfield. — His removal 
to Ohio. — His Marriasre with Eliza Ballon. — Brothers marry Sis- 
ters. —Their Remarkable Characteristics. — Early Married Life 
along the New Canal. — Birth of the first Children. — Selection of 
a Home in the Woods, ........ 25 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 

The Opening of Ohio to Settlers.— The Early Habitations. — The 
Primitive Forests. — Wild Beasts. — Appearance of Cleveland. — 
Fertility of the Soil. — Abram Garfield and his Wife. — Excursion 
of the Brothers into the Woods. — Selection of a Home. — The 
first Clearing. — Small Quarters.— Arrival of the Boynton Family. 
—The first Cabin. — The Removal of the Garfield Family. — The 
Forest Road. — Two Families in One. — Joy of the Sisters. — No 
Place like One's own Home. — The Garfield Log Cabin. — Settle- 
ments opened about Them. — Clearing their Farm. —The School- 
House, 38 

CHAPTER HI. 

BIRTH OF JAMES AND DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 

Birth of James. —The Fourth Child of the Family. —Rejoicings. — 
Humble Surroundings. — Named after his Uncle and his Father. 
— Effect of that Calamity. — Sympathy of the Neighbors. — In 
Debt. —Widow advised to'^give away her Children. —Attempting 
to save the Home. -Finishing the Rail Fence. —Industry of 
Thomas. — His Self-sacrifice. — Occupation of the Widow. — Her 
Love for Reading. — Teaching Little James 46 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

H.\BITS AND INCIDENTS OF HIS BOYHOOD. 

Not precocious. — His Plays. — A petted youngest Child. — His early 
Tasks. — Absence of a Father's Discipline. — His absolute Truth- 
fulness. — Could not lie to his Mother. — Ashamed to be called a 
Coward. — His Uncle Amos. — Wholesome Fear. — Love of Poe- 
try. — Names the Trees and Rocks after Heroes and Heroines. — 
Reading at home. — Country Lyceum. — Mother's Watch-care, 55 

• CHAPTER V. 

YOUTHFUL OCCUPATIONS. 

Early Maturity. — Boiling Salts. —A Man's Work at Harvesting.— 
Ambition to be a Carpenter. — New Frame House at Orange. — 
Learning tbe Trade. — Out of Work. — Chopping Wood. — Wish- 
es to be a Sailor. — Visits a Ship at Cleveland. — Abandons the 
Idea of being a Sailor. — Finds Employment on the Ohio Canal. 

— A Driver Boy. — Fever and Ague. — A Quarrel. — An Acci- 
dent. — Goes Home to his Mother, 07 

CHAPTER VI. 

EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. 

Slow Recovery. — Meeting with Mr. Bates. — A Private Tutor. — De- 
termined Beginning. — The Geauga Seminary. — Estimates the 
Cost of a Term at School. — Earns a small Sum to start with. — 
His Mother's Help. — Boarding himself at Chester. — Puddhig and 
Molasses. — Advantages or a healthy Body. — Teaching School. — 
Vacation Work. — Interest in Religion. — Disciples of Christ. — 
Religious Persecution. — Trustworthy Work. — A Good Name, 78 

CHAPTER VII. 

SCHOLAR AND TEACHER AT HIRAM. 

Leaving Chester. — Description of Hiram. — The Crown of Ohio. — 
The Eclectic Institute. — Course of Study. — A Leader among the 
Students. — Janitor of the Building. — Urged to become a Preach- 
er. — Determined to attend College. — The Debating Club. — A 
Revolt. — Outside Studies. — Work" as a teacher. — Works on alone 
into the College Text-books. — Borrows money of his Uncle 
Thomas. — Starts for Williamstown College, . . . .91 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LIFE AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 

His Health. — Appearance of the Hoosac Valley. — Scenery about 
Williams College. — The Great Natural Amphitheatre. — The 
Mountains in October. — Character of the Students. — Garfield's 
Habits as a Student. — Enters the Junior Class. — His Modesty. 

— Friendship of President Hopkins and Professor Chadbourne. — 
His Truthfulness at College. — His Graduation.— Classmates, 102 



CONTENTS. 1 3 

CHAPTER IX. 

A PREACHER AND PROFESSOR. 

A Preacher in the Church of the Disciples. — Estimation of his Abil- 
ities among his old Neighbors. — Rise of Infidelity at Chagrm 
Falls. — Spiritualism and Christianity. - Exciting public Discus- 
sion. — Professor Denton vs. Professor Garfield. — How the Victo- 
ry was won. —Mr. Garfield's Popularity as a Teacher — lestimo- 
nyof Students.— Marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph.— His 
Speech at Hiram, 

CHAPTER X. 

POLITICIAN AND LAWYER. 

Political Sympathies. — Hope of making the Law a Profession. — En- 
ters his Name as a Student. -Years of hard Study. -Profitable 
Use of all his Time. -His Legal Research. - Interest in Local 
Politics. — A Stump-speaker's Challenge. — h irst Speech. - dom- 
ination for the State Senate. -In the Service of the State. - 
Leaving the Gospel for Politics. - Mrs. Garfield's Love of Domes- 
tic Life ^"^^ 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE EVENTFUL YEAR OF 1861. 

Admission to the Bar. - Withdraws from ^J^^f t^^'^^^^^'^^-^T.T^^pX 
sition to Slavery. - Leadership in the State Senate. - The Gov- 
ernor's Assistant. -Providing for the Troops. -The Regiment of 
Hiram Students. -Depletion of the Classes. -Appointment as 
Lieutenant-Colonel.- Promotion. -Departure for the Field - 
Consultation with General Buel.-Planof a Campaign. -Mardi 
against Marshall. - Battle of Prestonburgh. -The Account of F. 
H. Mason. — Promotion, • • ^'^ 

CHAPTER XII. 

CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 

Lack of Provisions. -The Great Flood. — Dangerous Situation of the 
Troops -^General Garfield goes to the Ohio lliver. "Perilous 
Vovacre un the Big Sandy. - Reception by the Hungry Troops — 
E?ped?tX agaTnft the -Enemy at'pound ^ap- -Geiieral 0,d^^^^^ 
connected with his Campaign. — His Transfer to LouisMlle. -His 
New Command. -Forced Marches. -The Battle of Corinth - 
Re'f^sal toTe^urn Slaves to their Masters. - Election to Congress 
Aonointment as Chief of General Rosecraiis Staff. - Battle ot 
CWckamauga. -Promotion to Major-General.- Resignation. 157 



14 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIIL 

REVIEW OF HIS MILITARY CAREER. 
Fitness for Military Affairs. — How he became familiar with Infantry- 
Tactics. — Carries the chief Characteristics of his Boyhood into 
Army Life. — His Knowledge of Law. — Military Trials. — The 
Tullahoma Campaign. — His Ability as an Engineer. — His great 
Plan for an onward Movement from Murfreesboro.' — His Official 
Report. — Compliment from General Rosecrans. — His Resigna- 
tion 175 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SERVICE AS A LEGISLATOR. 
A new Field. — The highest Test of human Greatness. — The Ameri- 
can Congress. — Freqiient Failures of noted Men. —The Trials of 
that Crisis. — Placed on the Military Committee. — The Style of 
his Speeches. — His Industry. — His Reply to Mr. Long. — An 
impromptu Speech. — The Compliments ot Old Members, . 187 

CHAPTER XV. 

EARLY SPEECHES. 

His Position concerning the Draft for the Army. — Differs with his 
own Party. — Contends for Frankness and Truth. —Hopeful View 
of the Nation's Success. — National Conscience and slavery.— 
Emancipation the Remedy for National Evils. — Detense of Gen- 
eral Rosecrans. — Tribute to General Thomas. —His Account of 
the Battle of Chickamauga. — The Doctrine of State Riglits. — 
Camden and Amboy Railroad vs. the United States. — What is 
the Power and Prerogative of the Nation, . ... 202 

CHAPTER XVI. 

EULOGIES OF NOTED MEN. 

To Abraham Lincoln. —The Anniversary of Mr. Lincoln's Death. — 
Cause of the Assassination. — Effect of his Death — A Beautiful 
Tribute. — Oration on Carpenter's Painting. — Signing the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation. —Its Place in History. —John Winthrcp 
and Samuel Adams. — The Gift of Massachusetts. — General Gar- 
field's Tribute to New England. — The Lesson of Self-restraint. — 
Remarks upon the Death of Senator Morton, .... 216 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PERIOD OF UNPOPULARITY. 

His Practice of Law. —His first Case in the Supreme Court. — His 
success as a Lawyer. — Unpopularity of his Defense of Rebels in 
Court. — His Connection with a Matter called the De Golyor 



CONTENTS. 13 

Pavement Case. — ^How he was maligned. — Persistency of Ene- 
mies. — The great Credit Mobilier Case. —Vindication of General 
Garfield. — His Story of his Dealings with Cakes Ames.— His Op- 
position to the Increase of Salaries in Congress. — The Censure of 
his Constituents. — His Explanation. — Restoration to Public Fa- 
vor, 244 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

LABORS IN CONGRESS. 

Appointment on Committees. — Variety of "Work. — His Leadership. 
List of Speeches. — The Electoral Commission. — Speech in Wall 
Street. —His Views on Finances. — Resumption of Specie Pay- 
ments 318 

CHAPTER XIX. 

HIS PRESENT POSITION. 

Election as Senator. — A Scholar. — An Orator. — A poor Man. — 
Wins the Respect of the Democratic Party. — Speech before the 
Ohio Legislature. — The Chicago Convention. — General Gar- 
field's Speech. — His Nomination. — Letter of Acceptance, . 324 



LIFE OF GEN. CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

Birth in Vermont, — Son of a Baptist Clergyman. — His Father's Lit- 
erary Work. — Difficulties encountere(i in his early Life. — Gener- 
al Arthur's Childhood. — His Studies. — His Sports. — Prepara- 
tion for College. — Entering College very Young. — Teaching 
School. — Studying Law. — Searching for a Place to Practice. — 
Settlement in New York. — The Celebrated Slave Case. — Cham- 
pion of the Oppressed. — His Public Service. — Present Business 
and Position, — His Letter of Acceptajice, . , . 337 



itigJF ep iLLU^T^TiTiej^g 



PORTRAIT OF GENERAL GARFIELD, — Steel, 

Frontispiece. 

EARLY HOME OF GENERAL GARFIELD, Opposite page 44 

TOW-BOY, " "74 

HIRAM COLLEGE, " "93 

CAPITOL AT COLUMBUS, OHIO, . • . . "136 

"GIVE 'EM HAIL COLUMBIA," . . . Opposite " 140 

PLAN OF CHICK AM AUG A BATTLE-FIELD, " "171 

CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON, "191 

RESIDENCE AT MENTOR, .... Opposite " 325 

WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON "328 

PORTRAIT OF GENERAL ARTHUR, - Steel, Opposite " 337 



THE LIFE, 



OF 



GEN. JAMES A. GARFIELD 



CHAPTER I. 

GENEALOGY OF THE GARFIELD FAMILY. — EARLIEST MENTION OF THEM 
IN ENGLAND. — ASSOCIATED WITH ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEI- 
CESTER, FAVORITE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. —THE FAMILY IN WALES. 
— THE HOME OF EDWARD GARFIELD IN CHESTER, ENGLAND. — THE 
FIRST OF THE FAMILY IN AMERICA. — THE COAT OF ARMS. —HIS- 
TORY OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN GARFIELD. — ABRAHAIVI GARFIELD AT 
THE CONCORD FIGHT, IN 1775. — EMIGRATION OF SOLOMON TO NEW 
YORK STATE. — DEATH OF THOMAS AT WORCESTER, N. Y. — BIRTH 
OF ABKAM GARFIELD. — HIS REMOVAL TO OHIO. — HIS MARRIAGE 
WrrH ELIZA BALLOU. — BROTHERS MARRY SISTERS. — THEIR RE- 
MARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. — EARLY MARRIED LIFE ALONG THE 
NEW CANAL. — BIRTH OF THB FIRST CHILDREN. — SELECTION OF 
A HOME IN THE WOODS. 

Should the time ever come when it shall be 
proven by scientific investigators that man, as a be- 
ing, is but *' the aggregation of minute developments 
and of varied experiences," the genealogical history 
of his ancestors will be shown to be of the first im- 
portance in forming an estimate of his ability and 



26 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

character. If it be true, as now claimed by scien- 
tific leaders of modern thought, that the child is born 
with all the experiences and mental accumulations ol 
his progenitors, paternal and maternal, latent in his 
brain and system ; then, to gain a knowledge of his 
physical mould and of his mental peculiarities, the 
student of biography would need to secure impossi- 
ble information about the lives of the generations 
past in order to measure the physical power and 
mental capabilities of the man whose life he studies. 
Whether the writers and scholars who devote so 
much of their time to genealogical studies take this 
scientific view of the matter or not,it is certain that, 
for some reason, the study of genealogy is taking a 
prominent place in the pursuits of scholarly men. 
Having, however, no faith in the theory that the 
men of to-day are but the aggregations of experi- 
ences and developments in the past, and giving but 
little credit to the aristocratic claim that ancestry 
makes the nobleman, we give the line of the Garfield 
family for the benefit of such as may deem it import- 
ant. The tendency of this record is to show that all 
the individuals of the different races are born into 
the world with very similar characteristics and with 
much greater equality in mental endowments than 
aristocracy is willing to admit. It shows, too, that it 
is not what our fathers were so much as what we 
make of ourselves, that determines our right to no- 
bihty or praise. Ancestry and health wield a per- 
ceptible and sometimes a strong influence ; but the 
capital we are born with may be increased a hundred 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2'] 

fold by our own exertions. It is this increase which 
constitutes the noblest claim to human greatness. 

The earliest known mention of the Garfield family 
is in 1587, when it appears that one James Garfield 
(or Gearfeldt), was given a tract of land on the bor- 
ders of Wales, near Chester, England, through the 
influence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. A 
natural inference would be that he had performed 
some military service on the Continent, under that 
celebrated favorite of Royalty, or was of some special 
service to Robert at Kenilworth or London. The 
estate thus conferred is said to be situated near Os- 
westry, and not far from the most beautiful and cele- 
brated vale of Llangollen, on the border of Wales. 
What was the nationality of James Garfield, whether 
Welch or English, German or Dutch, does not ap- 
pear. The most probable conjecture is that he was 
Welch, and was a warrior of some note, perhaps a de- 
scendant of the old Knights of Gaerfili Castle, The 
estate conferred upon him was either released by 
him, taken from him, or for some reason his children 
did not inherit it, and no mention of them appears, 
so far as is now known, in any record of the Garfield 
family until 1630, when Edward Gearfield, of Ches- 
ter, England, came to America, in a company of 
colonists, who embarked with his family under the 
auspices of Governor John Winthrop. 

The name appears again at Watertown, Massachu- 
setts, in 1635, and is probably the same man. He 
was born in 1575. Of this Edward Garfield (or Gear- 
field) quite full accounts come down to us, and curi- 



28 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ous searchers into the family history claim to have 
discovered his Coat of Arms. If the following de- 
scription of the family escutcheon be correct, as 
claimed by those who have given the matter study, 
it goes far to confirm the previous conclusion that 
the Garfields were a martial family of wealth and in- 
fluence in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and perhaps 
in the Crusades. It had three horizontal bars of red 
on a field, or background, of gold in the center of 
the shield, and a red Maltese cross on an ermine can- 
ton or corner piece. The crest consisted of a helmet 
with the visor raised, and an uplifted arm holding a 
drawn sword. For a motto were the words : *' In 
cruce vinco," (by the cross I conquer). 

This Edward Garfield, from whom the present 
large Garfield family in America has descended, ap- 
pears to have taken no great pride in his lineage or 
lordly titles, for he took a personal and laborious 
share in the manual labor connected with the clearing 
of his land in Watertown, and left but a meager trace 
of his armorial badge. His house was built on a 
beautiful spot in Watertown, overlooking the Charles 
River, and the site is still pointed out to visitors. 
near the railroad station of the Fitchburg railroad. 
In this house he lived but a few years before he was 
able to purchase a much larger estate in the western 
part of Watertown, near the present location of the 
Waltham town line. On this land he erected a capa- 
cious mansion, and surrounded himself with all the 
comforts and elegance of the *' gentleman " of that 
period; and the estate now known as the ** Gov. Gore 



OF GENERAL JAMES A, GARFIELD. 29 

place," Still holds its position as one of the most 
beautiful and valuable estates in Massachusetts. Ed- 
ward Garfield, Sr., had two sons, viz., Edward, Jr., 
and Samuel. The latter lived a bachelor's life, but 
Edward, Jr., was a selectman three years, and mar- 
ried a lady of Newton, Massachusetts, who died April 
16, 1661. She had, however, before her death, given 
birth to three sons and two daughters, viz., Samuel, 
the date of whose birth we cannot ascertain, but who 
died November 20, 1684; Joseph, who was born 
August 14, 163 1 ; Rebecca, who was born March 10, 
1640; Benjamin, who was born in 1643, and died 
November 28, 171 7; and Abigail, who was born 
June 29, 1646. 

Benjamin Garfield, Edward, Jr.'s fourth child, 
remained at home in the old mansion, and married 
Mehitable Hawkins, in 1673. After the birth of two 
children, viz., Benjamin and Benoni, she died De- 
cember 9, 1675, and her gravestone is still standing 
in the cemetery at Watertown. Benjamin married 
Elizabeth Bridge, of Watertown, for his second wife, 
January 17, 1677. By this second marriage there 
were born to him Elizabeth, whose birth was June 30, 
1679; Thomas, born December 12, 1680, and who 
died in Weston, Mass., February, 1752; Anne, who 
was born June 2, 1683 ; Abigail, who was born July 
13, 1685 ; Mehitable, whose birth was December 7, 
1687; Samuel, whose birth was September 3, 1690; 
and Mary, who was born October 2, 1695. 

Captain Benjamin Garfield, the father, was a dis- 
tinguished citizen of Watertown, and was given a 



30 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

captain's commission by the Governor, in the Colonial 
Militia. He held numerous town offices, and was 
elected nine times to the Colonial Legislature. He 
was a stout, broad-shouldered man, with an open, 
cheerful countenance, and most affable and kind in 
his manners. His light complexion, and especially 
the light hair, appear to have descended to the pres- 
ent generation. 

It appears, from the old records, that Captain Gar- 
field's house and barn were burned on the night oi 
March 29, 168-, by his negro servant, Joshua, and 
on the night of April 9th, Joshua was discovered with 
his throat cut, a knife clasped in his hand. He had, 
perhaps, committed suicide out of remorse. In 1684 
the captain's fence was burned by Christopher Thomp- 
son, who was ordered to be sold into a neighboring 
colony. Both of these were probably slaves. 

His eldest son by his second wife, Lieut. Thomas 
Garfield, was married to Mercy Bigelow, daughter 
of Joshua and Elizabeth (Flagg) Bigelow, January 2, 
1706, and he also made his home at the old home- 
stead. At his death, the estate passed out of the 
family. He appears to have inherited many of his 
father's natural qualities, and to have won for himself 
the esteem and friendship of the people of his town. 
He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Militia, 
and saw active service in a campaign against the In- 
dians. His wife died February 28, 1744. He died 
February 4, 1752. They had twelve children, viz,, 
Elizabeth, born August 10, 1708; Eunice, born Aug- 
ust 23, 1710; Thomas, Jr., March, 1713, and who 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3 1 

died January 3, 1774; Thankful, born February 15, 
1715 ; Isaac, born February 19, 1716; John, born 
December 3, 1718; Samuel, born April 11, 1720; 
Mercy, born June 17, 1722 ; Ann, born June i. 1724; 
Lucy, October 5, 1725 ; Elisha, November 11, 1728; 
and Enoch, June 23, 1730. 

Thomas Garfield, Jr., married Rebecca Johnson, 
daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Johnson, of Lunen- 
burg, Mass., and moved to Weston, and afterwards 
to Lincoln, Mass., where he owned a large farm, and 
where he died, January 3, 1774. Their children 
were born as follows, viz., Solomon, July 18, 1743; 
Rebecca, September 23, 1745; Abraham, April 3, 
1748; Hannah, August 15, 1750; Lucy, March 3, 

1754. 

Solomon Garfield, the eldest son of Thomas, Jr., 
married Sarah Stimson, of Sudbury, May 20, 1766, 
and soon after his marriage they moved to Worces- 
ter, Otsego County, N. Y., where he purchased a 
farm. He was accidentally killed by falling from a 
beam in his barn, in 1806. His children were 
Thomas, Solomon, Rebecca, Hannah, and Lucy. 

Solomon's brother Abraham was an earnest devo- 
tee of American independence, and lived at Lincoln, 
Massachusetts, when the Revolutionary war began. 
He was^one of the first volunteers who enlisted in 
defense of the Colonies, and was in the fight at Con- 
cord, and was side by side with the ancestors of many 
illustrious Americans, including Judge E. Rockwood 
Hoar of Massachusetts. The signature of Judge 
Hoar's great-grandfather, John Hoar, and Abraham 



32 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Garfield are still preserved, and the curious docu- 
ment they signed was an important matter in its 
time. 

At the beginning of the revolution, separation from 
England was not generally meditated, and it was 
deemed important to endeavor to fix the responsi- 
biUty for the beginning of the conflict, showing 
which side struck the first blow, in the event of a 
settlement of the troubles. Therefore the affidavits 
of many persons concerned were secured and pre- 
served. Their deposition, showing how the attack 
on Concord Bridge began, was as follows : — 

Lexington, April 23, 1775. 

We, John Hoar, John Whithead, Abraham Gar- 
field, Benjamin Munroe, Isaac Parker, William Hos- 
mer, John Adams, Gregory Stone, all of Lincoln, in 
the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, all of 
lawful age, do testify and say that, on Wednesday 
last, we were assembled at Concord, in the morning 
of said day, in consequence of information received 
that a brigade of regular troops were on their 
march to the said town of Concord, who had killed 
six men at the town of Lexington ; about an hour 
afterwards we saw them approaching, to the number, 
as we apprehended, of about 1200, on which we re- 
treated to a hill about 80 rods back, and the said 
troops then took possession of the hill where we were 
first posted ; presently after this, we saw the troops 
moving toward the north bridge, about one mile from 
the said Concord meeting-house ; we then immedi- 
ately went before them and passed the bridge, just 
before a party of them, to the number of about 200, 
arrived ; they then left about one-half of their 200 at 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33 

the bridge, and proceeded, with the rest, toward 
Col. Barrett's, about two miles from the said bridge ; 
and the troops that were stationed there, observing 
our approach, marched back over the bridge and 
then took up some of the planks ; we then hastened 
our march toward the bridge, and when we had got 
near the bridge, they fired on our men, first, three 
guns, one after the other, and then a considerable 
number more ; and then, and not before (having or- 
ders from our commanding officer not to fire till we 
were fired upon), we fired upon the regulars and they 
retreated, On their retreat through the town of 
Lexington to Charlestown they ravaged and de- 
stroyed private property and burnt three houses, one 
barn, and one shop. 

Signed by each of the above deponents. 

Solomon was also a strong advocate of American 
Independence, and met with a company on training- 
day, but for some reason was not called into the militia. 

Solomon's eldest son, Thomas Garfield, was 
born in 1775, and lived a farmer's life at Worcester, 
Otsego County, N. Y., and married Asenath Hill, 
of Sharon, N. Y. Their children were Polly, Betsey, 
Abram, and Thomas. Abram was named for his 
patriotic uncle, who fought at Concord. 

This Abram Garfield was the father of James A. 
Garfield, the subject of this biography. Abram was 
born December 28, 1 799, at Worcester, Otsego County, 
N. Y, and, as his father, Thomas Garfield, was an 
industrious man, and not a wealthy farmer, he kept 
Abram at close and hard labor during his early years. 
Abram had but -little opportunity for obtaining an 
education, although naturally a gifted and thoughtful 
3 



34 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

man. The construction of the Erie Canal gave em- 
ployment to a large number of people along the line 
during the time of Abram's later youth and early 
manhood; and the first money he was able to save, is 
said to have been in connection with a job as a la- 
borer on the Erie Canal. 

When the Government decided to construct the 
Ohio Canal, and thus open to communication with the 
East the beautiful lands of Ohio, many people living 
in the State of New York moved into Ohio, and 
quite a number of the contractors and laborers who 
had found employment on the Erie Canal, sought the 
same opportunity on the Ohio Canal. Through the 
influence of friends who had moved from Worcester 
to Ohio, Abram Garfield and his half-brother, Amos 
Boynton, secured an interest in a contract on the 
Ohio Canal, and they went to Ohio when Abram 
was twenty-one years old. 

At the town of Perry, Muskingum County, Abram 
met again with one of his old playmates. Miss Eliza 
Ballou, who had accompanied her family to Perry a 
year or two before. They had been confidential 
friends in Worcester and the friendship of youth 
ripened into the love of maturer years. Miss Ballou 
is represented to have been an unusually attractive 
young lady, petite, sprightly, and possessing the spirit 
of tireless activity. Eliza and her sister Alpha were 
such industrious, intelligent girls, as to cause the 
"Ballou Sisters" to be held up by parents in the 
neighborhood as examples of neatness and activity. 

It appears that Abram and his half-brother Amos, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 35 

did not have a very easy courtship, so far as com- 
municating or meeting with their sweethearts affected 
their happiness, for their work was arduous, and their 
abode much of the time away on the banks of the 
unfilled canal. However, with but little capital and 
less household furniture with which to begin life, 
Abram married Eliza, and Amos married Alpha. 

Abram and Eliza immediately after their marriage 
in 1 8 19, removed to the town of Independence, Cuy- 
ahoga County, Ohio, where Abram was engaged in 
excavating for the canal. From the first day of their 
marriage, Eliza entered upon the work of gaining a 
livelihood with a will, and by weaving, knitting, keep- 
ing as boarders the workmen on the canal, she con- 
tributed her full share to the gains of the partnership. 
She inherited many of the noble qualities of her 
ancestry; and the heroism of her brother, James Ballou, 
in the war of 1812, or of that distinguished uncle. Ro- 
sea Ballou, in his controversy with his Baptist breth- 
ren over his Universalist belief, ^vas never greater 
nor more worthy of respect than the ceaseless, and 
good-natured self-sacrifice of their little niece on the 
banks of the Ohio Canal. Many of the Ballou family 
have held high positions. In New Hampshire where 
the family first settled, in Vermont to which one 
branch early emigrated, and in Boston, where, as the 
President of Tufts College, as the Editor of the 
Universalist Magazine^ as the preacher of sermons, 
now classic, as the author of the History of the 
Crusades, the editor of Ballotis Pictorial, and The 
Flag of our Union, and as the editor and founder of 



36 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the Boston Daily Globe, they have been known and 
honored ; but neither the Ballou family, nor the In- 
galls family, from whom they descended on their 
mother's side, throughout all their scholarly ranks 
can show a more lovable and admirable character 
than that displayed by those remarkable sisters 
Eliza and Alpha, in the wilds of Ohio. 

But it is somewhat aside from the purpose of this 
volume to give in lengthy detail the life of the pa- 
rents and we turn with regret from a chapter that 
may never be written. After the canal was com- 
pleted at and near Independence, Abram moved 
toNewburgh,atown which has since become a ward 
of the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Meantime, there 
were born to him three children, viz., Mehitable, 
now Mrs. Trowbridge, of Solon, Ohio, Thomas, now 
a farmer at Jamestown, Ottawa County, Michigan, 
and Mary, now Mrs. Larabee, of Solon, Ohio, her 
husband being a second cousin of General U. S. 
Grant. 

Those early years of their married life from 1819 
to 1829 were full of unremittent toil and hardship, 
and after ten years of such self-denial, Abram and 
Amos found themselves with a very meager sum on 
hand for future capital, They had labored dili- 
gently, they had saved scrupulously, they had availed 
themselves of every known opportunity, yet the re- 
sult of the decade's work was most unsatisfactory- 
They had no home. Abram and Eliza had built air 
castles, planned, discussed and dreamed of a home 
in which they and their children could dwell in the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 37 

sweet retirement of domestic love and joy. Yet their 
children were growing up without the sweet influ- 
ences and hallowed associations which brighten the 
life and sharpen the intellects of those who enjoy 
the ownership of a country home, while the presence 
of boarders and the objectionable people, who, for a 
time, sought employment on the canal and congre- 
gated at its terminus, made it almost imperative for 
these upright, devoted parents to seek other associa- 
tions for their children. 

Just at that time, 1829, there was quite an excite- 
ment over the advance in the prices of land in Ohio, 
which very naturally turned the attention of the peo- 
ple toward the purchase of wild land and toward the 
desirability and profitableness of a farmer's life. With 
a view to locating somewhere, and clearing a tract of 
land for a farm, Abram with his half-brother Amos 
made many excursions into the interior for the pur- 
pose of selecting a site; and in the summer of 1829 
they concluded a bargain for fifty acres of land for 
each, at a cost of ;^2.oo per acre, and situated in the 
township of Orange, about sixteen miles south-east of 
Cleveland. It was a heavily wooded tract of land of 
the ''forest primeval," and it must have required a 
very active and hopeful imagination to have foreseen 
in the gloom of that silent woodland, a future farmer's 
home, with waving fields of grain, cows feeding in 
the pastures, and children sporting on a wide door- 
yard lawn. Yet they were happy in such dreams; 
and our history will begin by an account, in the next 
chapter, of their removal to their forest home where 
James was born. 



38 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER II. 

THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 

THE OPENING OF OHIO TO SETTLERS. — THE EARLY HABITATIONS. — 
THE PRIMITIVE FORESTS. — WILD BEASTS. — APPEARANCE OF CLEVE- 
LAND. — FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. — ABRAM GARFIELD AND HIS 
WIFE. — EXCURSION OF THE BROTHERS INTO THE WOODS. — SELEC- 
TION OF A HOME. — THE FIRST CLEARING. — SMALL QUARTERS. — 
ARRIVAL OF THE BOYNTON FAMILY.— THE FIRST CABIN. — THE 
REMOVAL OF THE GARFIELD FAMILY. — THE FOREST ROAD. — TWO 
FAMILIES IN ONE. — JOY OF THE SISTERS. —NO PLACE LIKE ONE'S 
OWN HOME.— THE GARFIELD LOG CABIN.— SETTLEMENTS OPENED 
ABOUT THEM. — CLEARING THEIR FARM . — THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

Ohio, as early as 1803, had taken her place 
among the States of the nation, and the '' Western 
Reserve" lands, belonging to the State of Connec- 
ticut, had been nearly all sold to settlers and speculat- 
ors when Cleveland was incorporated as a village, in 
1 8 14. But the State had not, as late as 1828, as- 
sumed that thrifty and mature appearance which to- 
day reminds the traveler so forcibly of that New 
England from whence so many of the people came. 
The tracts of land which had been cleared had not 
parted with their primitive stumps, and the towns 
were composed largely of log houses, or low, one- 
story wooden dwellings, put up in the cheapest and 
most hasty manner, as if for a mere temporary stop- 
ping place, to be occupied but for a few weeks. 
There were vast forests still untouched in which the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 39 

bears, deer, raccoons and foxes still found hiding 
places ; and there were prairies still unbroken, where 
the wildest and fiercest of wolves secreted them- 
selves by day and howled hideously by night. 
Cleveland, now such a stately, populous city, with a 
shipping that equals many old seaports of the Atlan- 
tic, was, in 1828-9, a village with several small 
stores, and three or four diminutive churches. The 
highways were few and most rudely graded, and it 
was not an uncommon thing to hear of settlers 
whose little cabins were twenty miles from any pas- 
sable highway; in which case, they worked their 
way across the country to the public road as best 
they could, choosing their own route. The Indians 
had not been so completely exterminated by General 
Wayne as to be altogether unknown, and Indian 
squaws and Indian hunters were frequently met in the 
forests and seen begging at the cabin doors in the 
clearings. It seems hardly credible that within the 
memory of men and women living, such a condition 
of things existed in that Ohio, which to-day is so 
stable, so dignified, so enterprising in all the arts of 
this progressive age, having the appearance of cen- 
turies of civilization. 

But one cannot trust to his eyes in a country like 
this. Ohio possessed a soil so surcharged with veg- 
etable life, that the grains of civilization felt instant- 
ly its vivifying touch, and leaped like intelligent be- 
ings into luxuriant maturity, and danced as they 
ripened in the breezes of the lakes. 

To clear the forests, to break up the prairie, to 



40 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

construct the canals, railroads, highways, dwellings, 
barns, fences, and sow the grain, was at first a task 
that required strong arms, persevering minds, and 
fearless spirits. Ohio had many of them in 1828. 
But the equal of any man, and the superior of many 
was Abram Garfield. He was large, robust, of light 
complexion, auburn hair and with a high forehead. 
; Physically, he was one of the strongest men in Ohio. 
He seldom met his equal in feats of physical strength; 
and if there was found any huge boulder, or large 
log which the men on the canal or in the woods 
could not handle, they called for " Abe Garfield," and 
the obstruction was removed. He was a fearless, 
frank, energetic man, less rude than the majority of 
his associates, and giving the heartiest expressions 
of his love for his family, and his good will toward 
his neighbors. 

Such was the man, who, with his younger half- 
brother, Amos Boynton, went into the wilderness of 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to clear a spot for their 
homes. Their land was two miles and a half from 
the nearest open road, and they were obliged to cut 
the way for their ox team through the underbrush, 
and to build a rude hut to occupy at night. It is 
said the two young pioneers shook hands as they 
took the axes to fell the first tree on the line be- 
tween their lands, and said they would live and die 
together there. They had never owned a foot of 
land before. This was their own. Wolves might 
howl, and bears might threaten, they were happy in 
the consciousness of superior strength and right. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 4I 

The forest steadily and surely melted away before 
the vigorous woodsmen, and the proper logs having 
been saved from fire and axe for the purpose, the 
work of constructing a log house for Amos was be- 
gun. They had no thought of pride then, and but 
little of convenience; but, influenced by the over- 
mastering desire to get a home of their ovvn as soon 
as possible, they constructed a building which was 
said afterwards to be too small for a convenient loom 
house. 

A few days after their first arrival, Amos con- 
cluded to bring his family and lodge them in a log 
shed or weaving-cabin belonging to their nearest 
neighbor, about a mile and a half from their clearing. 
So the family were brought and stowed away in that 
little cabin, scarcely twelve feet square, and there 
on the ground they set their rude furniture and 
waited day by day for the completion of their new 
home. One child, Mr. Henry B. Boynton, was born 
in that little structure. 

When the cabin for Amos was covered, and a floor 
laid in one end of it for the beds, Amos moved his 
fami]y in, and, according to the previous understand- 
ing, Abram wentto Newburghfor his family. It was 
New Year's day, 1830. There was a heavy fall of 
snow, and in the clearings it had drifted badly. He 
was obliged to unyoke the oxen often, and drive 
them wallowing over a ravine, and returning drag the 
rude ox sled himself through the snow. The road 
had improved somewhat before his return, but what 
was gained in more solid snow banks, was lost in be- 



42 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ing heavily loaded with his household goods and fam- 
ily. That trip from Newburgh to their clearing in 
Orange away back in January, 1830, Mrs. Garfield 
never has forgotten, notwithstanding the subsequent 
bitter and dangerous experiences. The oldest boy, 
Thomas, was then nine or ten years of age, and, in- 
heriting his father's hardy qualities, gave considera- 
ble assistance. But it was a long, weird, cold and 
exciting journey through an almost unbroken forest, 
on a road such as the woodmen now would consider 
to be unfit and unsafe for the transportation of 
wood. 

Yet the whole family, with a feeling akin to that 
the traveler on the ocean feels when longing for 
land, looked forward with joyful anticipation to the 
establishment of a home and the erection of those 
household gods with which all childhood homes 
abound. 

It was a joyful meeting at the log hut there in the 
woods. Two brothers, two sisters and their fami- 
lies, with the one distant neighbor, were to be a com- 
munity, a State, a law unto themselves, and they de- 
termined that love should abolish the need of law. 
Rough in manners, some of them might have been, 
and probably were; uncouthly dressed, perhaps, if 
judged by the standards of the Boulevards or Broad- 
way, rough hands there must have been; but the 
great hearts and strong brains which make nobles 
of the laborers, and found great nations, were there 
also. 

"Is this your house. Uncle Amos.?" asked the 
children. 



' OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 43 

" Yes, and yours, too, for a while," said Amos. 

Mrs. Garfield is said to have been delighted with 
:[he consciousness that she could stand on their own 
soil. 

"Is this our own land, Abram ? " said she. ''I 
:annot realize it." 

Years afterward, and even to this day, the sisters 
^'isit frequently the spot where first they set foot on 
jtheir own land, and each lives over again the sensa- 
jtions of those good old days. So frequently did 
Alpha visit the place where she first stopped and 
asked : " Amos, is this our land } " and so sacred did 
she hold it, that the children gave it the name of 
>" Mother's retreat," and always scrupulously left her 
!to herself whenever they saw her put on her bonnet 
and start in the direction of the place. Births, mar- 
;riages, deaths, have come since then. The strong 
!men are laid low, the children are scattered, and the 
Irees have been cleared away and grown again, but 
jthe two women live to visit their sacred ''retreats,'' 
jand to recite the tales of their early adventures in 
the ears of a wondering generation. 

When the two families were safely packed away in 
the little cabin with one room and one fire-place, the 
brothers began the construction of Abram's house. 

They selected a spot about forty rods from the 
other cabin, and on an elevated mound, behind which 
was a little ravine and a diminutive streamlet. A 
ishort distance down the ravine was a living spring, 
.which was found aftejward to be a most convenient 
and valuable household appendage. 



1^ 



44 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



There, with the ox team for the transportation of 
timber from the adjacent forest, and with their own 
natural Yankee skill to hew it, and their own strong 
arms to raise it, they constructed the old log cabin, 
without a ''raising," and, as Amos always took pride 
in adding, ''without whiskey." 

This log house was nearly square, with the front 
door in the middle, and the windows, about two feet 
square, in each end. It was ready for occupancy in 
the early spring, and in time to sow the front yard 
with wheat. During the summer other cabins were 
erected within a circuit of a mile and a half, so that . 
they did not long feel the weight of an almost com- i 
plete isolation. It required the closest management I 
for the new farmer to secure a livelihood through the j 
months preceding the sale of the first crop, and no lit- j 
tie watching to keep his family from the wolves and | 
from the possible visits of fiercer beasts. But all 
seem to have willingly endured all the privations of 
poverty and isolation with cheerfulness, often making 
jokes of their greatest hardships. The brothers often 
exchanged work, and so together cleared the fields 
of stumps, constructed fences, and set out fruit trees. 
Such saplings, seeds, or stock as they needed, one 
or the other procured at Cleveland. So that at the 
close of the autumn of 1830 both farms were in a 
prosperous condition, giving promise of rich harvests 
in the year to come. 

Other relatives, and many of his former acquaint- 
ances, purchased tracts of land in the county and in 
adjoining counties, and the three years which fol- 



j 



r--f 




OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 45 

owed Abram's removal to his new home saw many 
jlearings and improvements made in that whole 
jegion. His fifty-acre tract of land underwent a 
I'omplete transformation. Early and late he toiled 
nth the oxen ; and such a share did those beasts of 
')urden have in the establishment and improvement 
-if his home that Abram regarded them with affec- 
jionate fondness, and treated them with the most 
riendly and patient consideration. 

It was a grand thing to see the forest and wild- 
vood give place to the garden of vegetables, the 
ields of grain, and the orchards of apples. Abram 
md Eliza appreciated the wonderful change. Those 
vere their sweetest, best days, when they watched 
or the sprouts of corn and wheat with the eagerness 
ind innocence of children, when the whole family 
oined in the gathering of the harvest, or when about 
he roaring winter fire they sat and talked of the 
)ast or planned for the future. 

Soon a log school-house was constructed, across 
he ravine at the back of Abram's house, and at one 
:orner of his clearing. This furnished a means of 
iducation for their children, and Abram and Eliza 
vere happy. 



46 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER III. 

BIRTH OF JAMES AND DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 

BIRTH OF JAMES. — THE FOURTH CHILD IN THE FAMILY. — REJOICINGS 
— HUMBLE SURROUNDINGS. — NAMED AFTER HIS UNCLE AND Hlf^l 
FATHER. — DEATH OF HIS FATHER. — THE EFFECT OF THAIi 
CALAMITY. — THE SYMPATHY OF THE NEIGHBORS. —IN DEBT. — 
WIDOW ADVISED TO GIVE AWAY HER CHILDREN. —ATTEMPTING TOJ 
SAVE THE HOME. — FINISHING THE RAIL FENCE. — INDUSTRY 0¥i 
THOMAS. — HIS SELF-SACRIFICE. — OCCUPATIONS OF THE WIDOW. — 
HER LOVE FOR READING. — TEACHING LITTLE JAMES. 

November 19, 1831, nearly two years after Abram 
had taken his family to their new home at Orange, 
the household was made happier by the birth of an- 
other son. Yet, so far as the child was concerned, 
it cannot be said to be a very auspicious beginning 
of life. It had been a difficult task to feed the chil- 
dren already in the family. The gloomy log cabin, 
made more shadowy by the attempts tjo shut out the 
cold winds of November, could not be said to be an 
augury of future brightness. The crying of a child 
within the humble abode, and the barking of wolves 
in the woodland near at hand, suggest nothing unu 
sual, prophetic, or propitious. Such circumstances 
have surrounded the birth of many men, and will 
attend the nativity of many more. These circum- 
stances neither make nor unmake men. But they do 
present the encouraging thought that if, from such 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 47 

humble beginnings, a useful life may be made, then 
;there are none so poor and humble but they may 
limprove their condition and become benefactors. 

Yet the infant was welcomed heartily by his large- 
hearted father, and his appearance was made the 
'occasion for congratulations among all the neigh- 
bors. For in the woods then, there were loving and 
honest neighborly sympathy and interest in each 
lOther's welfare, which the non-conducting brick walls 
nf a city prevent or destroy. Then, if a person died 
within twenty miles, all the farmers, in sincere sym- 
ipathy, left their work, and appeared at the sad rites. 
If there was a birth or marriage all rejoiced. If 
there was a "raising," where help was needed, all 
were there. Children of the cities often grow up 
be narrow, useless, weakly men and women, for the 
lack of this wholesome large-hearted spirit which 
nature and freedom impart. 

When the time came to name the baby, he was 
given the name of James Abram, the first being 
that of his uncle in his mother's family, and the 
last being that of his father. There could have been 
none of those poetic high hopes of the child's future 
greatness on the part of his parents, which we often 
find mentioned in biographical works, or they would 
have selected some other name than James, which 
in that region was simply a suggestion to call him 
"Jim." Neither his father nor his mother had any 
loftier hopes than that he would become an honest 
iman and a good citizen. 
I But when the child was about a year and a half 



48 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

old an event happened which suddenly left the fam- 
ily in the greatest gloom. 

Abram Garfield had been fighting fire. From sev 
eral heaps of burning brush, a conflagration had 
spread to his fences, woodland, and fields, and 
threatened destruction to everything around. In 
the contest, which lasted for many hours, the strong 
man became so heated and fatigued, that he eagerly 
sought the shade and breeze of his cabin doorway. 
He had been warned of the danger that lurked in 
cold drafts of air, but, trusting in his robust health 
and past escapes, sat in the draft and fanned himself 
with his hat. It was a fatal mistake. For in three 
days the husband and father lay in the log cabin a 
corpse. Who can imagine the shock to the wife and 
mother.? So unexpected and so terrible. The neigh- 
bors could not for a while credit the rumor that 
Abram Garfield was dead. He had been the most 
certain of a long life, of any man they knew. Could 
it be that Abram Garfield had actually died of. 
disease ? 

To the widow it was for a while a paralyzing 
shock, which she could not comprehend. But when 
little James, just toddling about and beginning to 
speak whole words, pulled at the sheets of his 
father's bier, as the body lay on the boards across 
two chairs, and piteously called for his papa, she 
must have felt the keenest agony. The other chil- 
dren, Thomas, Mehitable, and Mary, were older, and 
could \mderstand what death meant. But little 
Jimmy would not be quiet while his oaDa slept such 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 49 

an unusual sleep. He could read in the sorrowful 
faces and sobs of all about him that something sad 
had happened; so from one to another the baby 
wandered, with his large eyes filled with tears, touch- 
ingly and hesitatingly saying to each, "Papa." 

"What a pity," said one, "that such a helpless 
little child should be left fatherless ! " 

" His mother cannot support him," said another ; 
"at all events, some of the children will have to be 
given away or bound out." 

" She must sell the farm at once," said a third, 
"for there is no one now to complete the fences nor 
cultivate the farm. Poor soul ! This will kill her ! " 

Yet the sorrowing woman did have one comfort. 
Her husband was loved by all and she had deep and 
hearty human sympathy. Have you ever been poor 
and imprisoned in a great city, with the body of a 
child, or wife, or husband, or a mother, or a father 
lying in death in your front room ? Have you ever 
in your grief glanced at the passing crowds, and 
longed for one look of sympathy.? Have you ever 
wished that your next neighbor would stop the piano, 
or his loud, careless laughter, or quiet his noisy chil- 
dren at play about your door.? Did not the per- 
sistent calls of traders, market men and beggars har- 
row up your stricken soul and cover your cheeks 
with the hot tears of unutterable woe.? Like the 
"Ancient Mariner's" surfeit of water with none to 
drink, you sat wretched and lone, friendless and un- 
noticed in your sorrow, while around you an ocean 
of humanity surged and rolled, wasting its super- 



50 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

abundance of sympathy on poodle pets and hardened 
criminals ; and caring not if the dirty gamins in the 
gutters pelted your meager funeral procession with 
sticks and stones. 

If you have experienced this not uncommon woe, 
your heart will bless those Ohio pioneers, whose 
children whispered about their doors and hushed 
their voices in the plays of school recess, saying, 
' Poor Jimmy's father is dead," you will have a sincere 
yearning for their friendship, as you hear how the 
hardy plowmen came from many miles away, and 
with tears coursing their rough cheeks, offered 
consolation and help. All mourned in sincerity, all 
remembered the widow and the fatherless in that 
hour of trial. 

The funeral which soon followed was unostenta- 
tious and simple, but called out a large attendance of 
friends and neighbors. Little Jimmy was the re- 
cipient of many a sad caress on that occasion, and 
tears freely flowed at the sight of his helplessness 
and artlessness, from fountains which even the pres- 
ence of the stricken widow had not unloosed. 

In that same year Sir Henry Taylor wrote " The 
world knows nothing of its greatest men," and his 
true saying would have been a wiser one had it 
passed into literature that " The world knows nothing 
of its greatest women." The situation in which 
Eliza Garfield was left, was peculiarly disheartening 
because she was a woman. To a man, with physical 
strength, with opportunities for gain, with power to 
compel respect for himself and his children, the cir- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 5I 

cumstances which follow the death of a consort are 
not so appalling. But the utter despair which must 
have filled that widow's heart, when with her father- 
less little ones she entered alone their log home after 
the burial, cannot be known to those who have not 
had a like sorrow. The phantoms which his pres- 
ence had kept aloof from their cabin, the shadows 
which his face had ever dispelled, came boldly in at 
the door, and lurked in the corners at the approach 
of every evening. The farm was not fully fenced. 
The stock was not paid for, and the orchard of trees 
which Abram had planted had not reached its fruit- 
age. There was but a meager stock of provisions or 
clothing on hand, and the crop which had been sowed, 
she seemed helpless to gather. The reader may say 
that there is nothing very uncommon in their situa- 
tion, and may say that other women have been in 
even worse circumstances; but such facts do not 
make this experience any the less interesting, nor 
these evidences of womanly heroism any the less 
striking. If she sold all their personal property to 
pay the debts, she must still leave some unpaid. To 
the men of business, there seemed no way but to sell 
the farm and everything of personal property con- 
nected with it, put the children out into families 
where they could be adopted, or be made to pay their 
way doing errands and light work, while she could 
probably support herself by weaving, or by house- 
hold labor in the famihes of those who knew her. 

It does not appear that the brave woman ever 
entertained the thought of following their advice. 



52 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Her love was too strong, her capabilities for self- 
sacrifice too great to admit of a separation without a 
struggle to maintain her family. In her resolution 
she had the sympathy of every one, even of such as 
looked upon it as a foolhardy undertaking. 

Tn order to pay the outstanding debts, she con- 
cluded to sell a part of the little farm and finally 
disposed of twenty acres, for a sum which left her 
thirty acres and two cows, free of debt. The dimen- 
sions were reduced but it was still their home. 

Thomas was a robust and active boy, and appears 
to have taken hold of labor with a heroic devoted- 
ness worthy of his mother. It is said that he and 
his mother actually attempted to complete the unfin- 
ished rail fence along one side of their farm, but she 
was too light and small to be of much use at a man's 
work of driving stakes or splitting rails. Yet the 
attempt shows the determined and independent 
spirit with which she took upon herself the office of 
father in addition to that of mother. With the help 
of kind neighbors and her brother-in-law, Amos, 
who was still her nearest neighbor, the first crop was 
gathered, and odd jobs of employment found for 
Thomas. Living on the plainest food, wearing the 
coarsest clothing, and denying themselves every 
luxury, the little family struggled on from day to day 
managing so as to keep out of debt and retain their 
hold on their home. Mrs. Garfield sought employ- 
ment for herself among the people of that vicinity, 
and appears to have earned considerable in spinning, 
weaving and knitting, at which she was an expert. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 53 

While she was engaged at work, little Jimmy was 
left in the care of the girls, or, in case the girls also 
found some work, he was left with the famil}/ of his 
Uncle Amos. She occasionally had an opportunity 
of letting a few acres of her land to be cultivated on 
shares, and secured some of her firewood in that 
way, while the remainder was brought in by herself 
and children by hand from the borders of the wood- 
land. 

Of Thomas, whose industry as a boy, and whose 
self-denying faithfulness to his mother in her needs 
was remarkable, the people still retain most 
praiseworthy traditions. Whenever he could work 
extra hours and earn a few pennies more, he never 
neglected the opportunity, and always with most 
touching indications of joy carried home to his 
mother with alacrity every cent of his earnings. He 
seemed never to have thought that he was entitled to 
any share of it for amusement or luxury. It is still 
related of him, how he walked to Cleveland and back 
on an errand, saving the small cost of a horse, with a 
determination to ''get money enough extra to buy 
Jimmy a pair of shoes," so that the little fellow could 
go to ''the Sunday meetings in the School-House," 
However, the clothing for the family was usually 
secured by Mrs. Garfield in exchange for her work. 
When shoes became a necessity she would weave or 
sew for the shoemaker, and he would come to her 
cabin and make the shoes on the spot and fit them 
as he put them together. 

Yet it seems that amid all this excessive labor and 



54 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

mental strain, Mrs. Garfield found time to read papers 
and books such as the neighborhood contained. Her 
Sabbaths, doubly sacred for the gathering of her 
family about her, were also improved by her in read- 
ing, and often she read aloud to the children. In 
this way, no doubt, young James gained that first 
love for books which afterwards led him into the 
higher walks of life. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 55 



CHAPTER IV. 

HABITS AND INCIDENTS OF HIS BOYHOOD. 

NOT PRECOCIOUS. —HIS PLAYS. — HIS GARDEN. — THE PETTED YOUNG- 
EST CHILD. —HIS EARLY TASKS. —ABSENCE OF A FATHER'S DISCI- 
PLINE. —HIS ABSOLUTE TRUTHFULNESS. — COULD NOT LIE TO HIS 
MOTHER. — ASHAMED TO BE CALLED A COWARD. — HIS UNCLE 
AM.OS. — WHOLESOME FEAR. — LOVE OF POETRY. — NAMES THE 
TREES AND ROCKS AFTER HEROES AND HEROINES. — THE APPLE 
ORCHARD. —AMBITION TO BE A SAILOR. — CARELESS USE OF TOOLS. 
— READING AT HOME. — COUNTRY LYCEUM. — MOTHER'S WATCH- 
CARE. 

The boyhood of James is interesting and encoura- 
ging to the youth of our land, inasmuch as it lacks 
those extraordinary and unusual features which 
would adorn a romance or a fable. It was so much 
like the life of many other boys, and so little varied 
from the common experience, that it shows the pos- 
sibility that goodness, greatness and fame are within 
the reach of many other poor country lads. The 
hardihood and intelligence of his mother may have 
contained a blessing which is exceptional in such 
circumstances; but the life he led in his earlier 
years was, in its daily routine, very similar to that of 
other fatherless farmers' boys. He brought in at 
night the wood for the morning fire; his bare feet 
made solid the often trodden path down to the 



56 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

spring ; and he was not unusually precocious in his 
desire for knowledge or in his willingness to work. 

He constructed mud dams and set up rude toy mills 
at the little stream in the ravine below the spring. 
He sought out the shady nooks in the near wood- 
land for summer shade, and made caves in the wood- 
pile in winter, to secure a sheltered playhouse. He 
planted his little garden in the spring, and often lost 
his interest in it after the wonderful resurrection of 
the beans and cucumbers had ceased to astonish 
him. He was the pet of his mother and the pride 
of his brother and sisters, but poverty prevented 
anything like a dangerous indulgence. Yet its 
tendency was to make him less inclined to work 
either in school or in the field. But he often entered 
into the sports of the boys in the neighborhood with 
enthusiasm, and sometimes with unhealthy zeal. If 
he was given a job of work to do, and a certain time 
was allotted him in which to perform the task, his 
whole soul engaged in the work, and the job was 
pushed to completion with startling vigor. 

His early life lacked, however, that energy and 
promptness which is ever the result when a boy loses 
the discipline of a father's presence and example. It 
is a surprise that he was so active. Many boys have 
been led away into laziness and its consequent vices 
and crimes, for the lack of a father's stern and digni- 
fied commands. 

But there was one feature of little James's charac- 
ter which will account for his fmal triumph under all 
these discouraging circumstances of his life. His 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 5/ 

mother's training, his inherited disposition, and the 
; habits of the rather remarkably religious neighbor- 
;hood of Orange at that time, kept his boyhood life in 
the way of the most scrupulous truthfulness. He 
did not and would not lie. While that anchor held, 
ihis character and future were safe. No boy or man 
can be selfish, self-indulgent, or lazy, without being 
'dishonest. He cannot steal, nor cheat, nor play 
Itruant, nor indulge in vicious habits, unless he will 
!lie. Absolute truthfulness and a useless or vicious 
•life are incompatible and impossible. 
i A traditional incident, illustrating his love of 
I truth, is related of him, which may or may not be 
exact in its details, yet which is an apt illustration 
of his whole character in that early day. His uncle, 
'Thomas Garfield, lived three or four miles from his 
'mother's house, and the road led through a lonely 
country, a part of which was thickly wooded. It 
often happened that he was sent on errands, to and 
ifro, over this road. One evening, while he was at 
his uncle's, there came up a sudden shower which 
turned into a storm, and darkness came on suddenly. 
He had probably heard the usual ghost and Indian 
stories which terrified the yo\ith of his time and was 
somewhat timid. He disliked to traverse the road 
I alone in the night, yet he felt that he must go home. 
His cousins and aunt tried to persuade him to stay 
all night, but he would not. He started boldly out 
into the night. It was wet, cold, and pitchy dark. 
The wind groaned among the maples, and the great 
beech trees cracked and creaked ominously. It was 



58 THE LIFE, SPEECHES AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

too much for his boyish courage, and, after going a 
half mile, he turned back. 

But on reaching his uncle's house he felt ashamed 
of his weakness and determined to start again. 

*• I would not try it again, James," said a work- 
man. 

*' But mother will worry about me," said the little 
fellow. 

'• O stay all night, and tell her the mud was too 
deep to get home," said the workman. 

" I shall not tell her that, and I won't tell her I 
was afraid," said James. And off he started a second 
time. This time he went bravely through the dark 
woods to his home, and it may be that his mother 
never knew how much he endured that night rather 
than tell her a falsehood or confess that he was 
afraid. 

That tradition is in accord with many others and 
shows that truthfulness requires a brave spirit and a 
self-sacrificing life. The frut/i was his good angel. 
It kept him from everything which he would be 
ashamed to confess. It overcame his indisposition 
to labor. It guided him safely over the dangerous' 
bar of a petted boyhood. Inasmuch as he was more 
true in his speech and actions than other boys, just 
that much was his boyhood nobler and more promis- 
ing than theirs, and no more In all other things he 
was like the multitude. The determination and habit 
of speaking the simple truth was a badge of honor, 
more honorable and more respected than the kingly 
ermine on the heraldic shields of his ancestors. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 59 

Wild and rough oftentimes, rude in his sports 
and awkward in the presence of visitors, often in 
rags and dust he had carelessly made, with no other 
title or claim to respect and no other capital to begin 
life upon, he found in his truth-telling an infallible 
guide to nobility and human greatness. This was 
the only very remarkable thing about his young life, 
and we shall see how curiously and surely it guided 
him upward. 

Romances have been constructed about the boy- 
hood of James, in which he has figured as the heroic 
representative of Ohio boys. But the dress of fiction 
adds nothing to the moral of his noble life. He was 
no more of a hero, loved his books no better, enjoyed 
hard labor no more than the hardy boys of his neigh- 
borhood. There was nothing in his boyhood, save 
that single characteristic of honesty in speech, which 
could be said to be indicative of superior gifts. 

Fortunately for James, his uncle, Amos Boynton, 
had a heart broad enough to take in more than his 
own family ; and the uncle's example, precepts and 
threats were most efficacious in keeping the children 
of the Garfield family decorous and respectful. James 
was not always good-natured nor always in the mood 
for immediate obedience to his mother's commands. 
But when he was inclined to mischief or willfulness, 
his mother had but to say, '' I will tell Uncle Amos," 
and he was as meek as the lambs. 

Uncle Amos was a valuable man in the commu- 
nity, and appears to have had, in his eccentric way, 
a most excellent influence over the young people of 



60 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Orange township. He was a devoted member of the 
Disciples' Church, loved the Bible, and despised lazy 
or dishonest people. He took an active part in or- 
ganizing and sustaining local lyceum debates among 
the young men at the school-houses. The singing- 
schools, spelling matches, out-door games, and re- 
ligious gatherings had his personal assistance, and 
his encouragement and advice had a great influence 
with James, who stood in most reverential awe of his 
uncle. 

His early school-days were not remarkably brill- 
iant, nor did he particularly distinguish himself at 
that time, in any direction, beyond the majority of 
his school-fellows. He possessed a good memory, 
and made reasonable progress in such rudiments as 
were taught in the log school-houses of that time. 
He loved to hear his mother read poetry, and com- 
mitted many verses to memory. His nature was 
poetical, and he loved to wander alone in the fields 
and woods, and in imagination act the part of some 
of the poetical characters of which he had heard. 
When he was old enough to read story books for 
himself, he found, somewhere, the *' Pirates, Own 
Book," ''Tales of the Sea," '' Indian Stories," and 
other kindred volumes^ in which he seems to have 
been greatly interested. Pet calves and sheep were 
named by him after some favorite hero or heroine 
mentioned in romance, and even the rocks and high- 
lands came in for a share in the titles of nobility he 
conferred. 

The apple orchard of one hundred trees, which 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 6l 

his father planted and which had already spread 
wide its fruitful branches, and in the shade of which 
he passed the happiest days of his boyhood, was to 
his active imagination an army of warriors, or a host 
of Indians. Every tree soon had its name by which 
it was known, not only to him, but to all his play- 
mates in the neighborhood. Each tree was named 
after some noted Indian warrior, or after some old 
saint ; or, as was occasionally the case, for the lack 
of other names, he applied those of neighbors, 
preachers and school teachers. He appears to have 
felt no lonesomeness when left to himself, but was 
able to imagine the presence of others with him, or 
himself to be in some distant and attractive place, 
and ''was never less alone than when by himself." 

Very early in his life some story of the sea awak- 
ened his keen interest in the sailors' lives, and he 
formed many plans concerning a visit to the great 
ocean, to be carried out when he should become a 
man. He dreamed of the surging billows and longed 
for a sight of the white-fringed breakers. He would 
some day be a sailor. He would climb to the top of 
the masts. He would one day command a man-of- 
war. He would fight battles and win victories on 
every ocean and sea. He was often overheard re- 
peating the commands of the heroic captains, about 
whom he had read, and with a stern and loud voice 
he often bade his imaginary men to *' clear the deck 
for action." 

He early imbibed a love for the Bible, which he 
found was always his mother's dearest companion. 



62 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Its warriors, prophets, saints and apostles were char- 
acters as real and familiar to his active imagination 
as were the people he had actually met. In his 
work and at his play he saw and felt more than some 
other boys, because of this power to call about him 
imaginary characters. 

It may have been this habit of thinking on distant 
things that caused him, as a workman, to meet with 
so many accidents. 

He found much comfort in the society of a little 
black dog, which seemed to understand the language 
and wishes of James, like a human being. The dog 
was considered a wonder by the other boys. For 
several years the little creature was seen with James 
at all his work, whether chopping wood, riding the 
horses for the plow, or going to the pastures for the 
neighbors' cows. 

To all the beasts of the farm he was a kind and 
patient instructor, teaching them many curious and 
useful things. In all this he was, however, under 
his mother's careful oversight, and most faithfully 
did she watch over the ''four saplings," of which 
James was the youngest, and which her husband, on 
his death-bed, had said he must leave to her care. 
For him she felt and exhibited that special solicitude 
which mothers usually feel for their youngest child. 
She was determined that he should avail himself of 
the school privileges during the few winter months 
in which it was held, and she labored very hard to 
supply him with the necessary clothes and books. 
The teachers of the school parted with Mrs. Garfield 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 63 

in the spring with great reluctance, for the school- 
house being on one corner of her farm, they were 
often obliged to seek favors from her, and thus be- 
came familiar friends. At no place in all the district 
was the teacher more welcome than at Mrs. Garfield's 
cabin, and although the loft in her home was perhaps 
more lonely, and the bed less easy than many others, 
they were glad when the time came in their " board- 
ing around," to go to her abode. Many years after- 
wards they told of her love for learning, and of her 
desire that her children should have a thorough 
education. 

James was favored with opportunities for reading 
which the other members of that industrious family 
did not get. It was usually accidental, however. 
He was a careless, awkward boy in the use of tools 
in his work, and was often laid up by self-inflicted 
wounds. He cut his feet with his axe or scythe. 
He wrenched his back by the fall of a fence rail 
upon him. He fell from the barn upon a pile of 
wood. So that while he was not perhaps more care- 
less or awkward than boys of his age usually are, yet 
he was more often confined to the house as a result 
of accidents, and the hours of his retirement he 
most earnestly employed in studying all the books 
they had in the house, and all he could borrow of 
the neighbors. It was to his credit that he used his 
books with great care, and any neighbor was willing 
to intrust their volumes to him. His neighbors say 
that he learned much more in his early days by read- 
ing history and studying stories of scientific discov- 



64 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ery out of school than he ever gained from teachers. 
He was greatly interested in the debates and literary 
exercises which were often held on winter evenings 
at the school-house ; and it is said that, as a critic, 
he was dreaded by some of the old men before he 
was ten years of age 

In 1842, when he was about eleven years old, the 
boys in Orange, by the advice of ''Uncle Amos," 
organized a lyceum of their own, and it was the first 
place of the kind in which James ever ventured to 
speak. 

His speech was not preserved, even in tradition. 
But the speech of the last disputant has never ceased 
to be a funny circumstance in the minds of the old 
people who heard of it at the time. The subject for 
discussion contained a clause in which it was resolved 
that navigation was of superior importance to some 
other branch of human industry. The young orator 
" supposed a case " where a meal of victuals awaited 
a hungry, drunken man, but he could not get to them. 
" Now," said the speaker, "that man is too drunk to 
navigate himself He will have no supper. Now, 
of what use are all the beans, potatoes, sausages, 
pork and doughnuts to a man who can 't navigate ? " 
That speech was conclusive, and by a unanimous 
vote it was seriously declared that it was of the high- 
est importance that men be able "to navigate." 

These debates quickened James's desire for read- 
ing, and in less than two years he had read and re- 
membered so much concerning the current topics of 
lyceum debates that he successfully held his own as 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 65 

a ''principal" debater with the old men. Those 
evenings at the lyceum were the happiest, perhaps, 
in his youthful life. It was an escape for an hour or 
two from his hard and incessant toil. It was a place 
where he knew his mother was proud of him, and 
where even "Uncle Amos" was inclined to be 
more sparing of his critical suggestions than usual. 
It was the opening of a new life to the poor boy, and 
was suggestive of possible achievements which, until 
then, he had considered wholly beyond his reach. 
How many of our American statesmen can trace the 
beginning of their career to the lyceum in the coun- 
try school-house ! On the popularity of that humble 
and crude institution, the safety of the nation has 
often rested. 

During his training in those evening schools of 
debate, he searched the neighborhood and drew upon 
distant relatives for books and papers. He put his 
soul into the work ; and with an eager longing looked 
forward to each debate with ever increasing interest. 

There was a high ledge of broken rocks in the 
woods, about a quarter of a mile from his home, 
where one large shaft of rock rose considerably above 
its larger neighbors. To the top of that rock James 
used often to climb, and from its summit deliver to 
the rocks and trees around his prepared addresses 
or impromptu harangues. The trees and stones were 
an audience to him, and in his imagination they list- 
ened, sighed, and applauded, as, with excited tones, 
he approached his peroration. He called that rock 
his pulpit ; and never in the sacred desk or in the halls 



66 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

of the national councils found he a place in which 
there seemed to him such necessity for dignity, for 
grammatical accuracy, or for stirring illustration, as 
on that forest rostrum among the aged maples. Where 
will the American country youths find another such 
an audience as they saw in the waving corn, the rows 
of potatoes, the forest trees, or, the astonished herds, 
in those youthful days when the spirit of oratory 
first touched their lips with its inspiring fire ? 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 6^] 



CHAPTER V. 

YOUTHFUL OCCUPATIONS 

AHLY MATURITY. — BOILING SALTS. — A MAN's WORK AT HARVESTING. 

— AMBITION TO BE A CARPENTER. — SELF-SACRIFICES OF THOMAS. 

— THE NEW FRAME HOUSE AT ORANGE. — LEARNING THE TRADE. 

— OUT OF WORK. — CHOPPING WOOD. —WISHES TO BE A SAILOR. — 
VISITS A SHIP AT CLEVELAND. — ABANDONS THE IDEA OF BEING A 
SAILOR. — FINDS EMPLOYMENT ON THE OHIO CANAL. — A DRIVER 
BOY. — J'EVER AND AGUE. —A QUARREL. — AN ACCIDENT. — GOES 
HOME TO HIS MOTHER. 

The years of 1844 and 1845 included a period of 
jreat uncertainty with James. His hard work and 
he needs of life, felt by him unusually early, had 
jiven to his mind a somewhat premature develop- 
nent. He possessed a tough, awkward body, and 
eatures which were not very prepossessing. But his 
nind was bright and mature. He labored very hard. 
?or a few months he found employment in *' boiling 
;alts," which, in that early day, was made moder- 
itely profitable by the presence of immense quanti- 
ies of ashes left in the clearings. The process of 
caching the ashes and extracting the salts by boiling 
he liquid was a very dirty and unpleasant business. 

" The boy was often as black with soot as the follow- 
ers of the kindred trade of charcoal burning, and his 
:lothing was heavy with ashes and smoke. In this, 
IS in every other undertaking, he was determined to 



68 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

excel, and began early in the morning and worked 
late at night. Another portion of that period he 
spent in chopping wood, being paid by the cord. In 
this he did a mature man's work, and received, 
for the first time, a man's wages. He also en- 
gaged himself in harvesting, and swung the scythe 
through the grass, the sickle in the grain, and the 
rake over the meadow, the equal of the eldest. But 
the work was so exhausting that he often heartily 
wished that he could see some other way of securing 
an honest living. 

One day he saw a carpenter, with saw and chisel, 
at work framing a barn, and it occurred to him that 
the trade of a carpenter would suit him better than 
the ceaseless drudgery of a pioneer farmer's life, i 
He had shown some adaptability for that trade in 
the repairs he had from time to time made on his 
mother's house and barn, and in the toys which he , 
had ingeniously constructed. On consulting withj 
his mother, he decided to learn the carpenter's trade, i 
But no opportunity presented itself just at that time, i 
and he worked on in his heavy labor, waiting for 
some way to open to the lighter occupation. Thus, | 
at fifteen years of age, we find him an uncultured! 
country boy, with no acquaintance with the world 
beyond the clearings and cabins of that new land, i 
He appears to have had no thought or ambition | 
above that of being able to earn a living. He had i 
given up attending the school in his district, in which 
he had made good progress, and considered his edu- , 
cation complete, as far as school-books were con- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 69 

cerned. Certainly, his prospects for a place among 
the learned of the nation could scarcely have been 
'more discouraging than it was then. What had 
chopping wood, boiling salts, digging ditches in the 
.meadows, and milking cows, to do with refinement 
Lnd intellectual cultivation ? However, the industry 
jof the family was such that they began to accumu- 
late a little fund, with which they purposed to pur- 
jchase the materials to construct a frame house. 
! They began laying up pennies for that object, and 
to that small fund added dollars, and as the children 
igrew older and earned more, the prospect grew 
brighter. At last, Thomas, whose fatherly interest 
in the family was truly heroic, secured a contract for 
clearing a large tract of land in Michigan, and chop- 
ping the wood. The profits of his labor in that un- 
dertaking were such that, after paying all his expenses, 
the overjoyed young man was able to come back to 
the home he had missed so much, and present to his 
mother the sum of eighty dollars. That amount 
having been added to the building fund, they lelt 
able to undertake the enterprise, for which they had 
so long planned. 

When they considered the matter of securing a 
carpenter, to make the frame for their new house, 
the opportunity for James to learn the trade seemed 
to present itself. It was in the construction of this 
little house of four rooms, near their log cabin, that 
James performed his first work at the carpenter's 
trade. The carpenter under whose tutelage James 
succeeded in obtaining a good practical knowledge, 



yO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

was Jedediah Hubbell of Chagrin Falls, and 
throughout a long life he was the staunch friend of 
his former apprentice. 

The year 1846, when James was fifteen years old, 
was an eventful one in the life of the inexperienced 
boy. They had a new house and he had entered 
upon a new trade. Henceforth, he would be a car- 
penter, and his greatest pride was to be found in the 
drawing of the shave and pushing the plane. That 
was a step upward. He could earn higher wages, 
and it was less laborious than farming or clearing 
away timber. Yet, he never became such an expert 
at the trade as to deserve any especial praise. With 
the opportunities he had, with the few tools he could j 
secure, and with employment only on the cheap farm! 
houses and barns of that day, it is no surprise that 
he was an indifferent workman. His work was al 
ways carefully done, and gave the satisfaction that 
honest work gives to honest people. But in that 
trade he exhibited no striking genius, and con- 
structed no buildings which would now be consid- 
ered monuments of art or of remarkable skill. 

He could not always find work as a carpenter, and 
was frequently, in the following years, compelled to 
leave the plane, and take up the hoe and shovel. 
Turning his hand to every kind of work that a young 
man could do, he found life rather hard, and his in- 
crease in knowledge and property very slow. 

He had not found his level. He began to feel iti 
severely when, after two years of toil, he foundj 
himself with but little money left with which tO| 

i 
I 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 7I 

open another season. At one time he became 
1 utterly discouraged, and could see nothing before 
I him but the same poverty and the same arduous 
' toil. To be dissatisfied with one's trade or em- 
< ployment is not always an evidence of a fitness for 
any other station, although it often leads to the ac- 
complishment of higher tasks. James, however, was 
j not so much dissatisfied with his trade or work as 
1 he was with the unprofitableness of it, owing to the 
I uncertainty of remunerative employment during the 
entire year. 

At one of these seasons of uncertainty, the old 
longing to be a sailor returned with its pictures of the 
ocean's grandeur and sublimity ; and for a time the old 
spirit of his early boyhood was upon him. Homesick 
for the sea ! Yearning for adventure ! Wishing to visit 
the strange lands of which the story books had told ! 
In this restless mood, he determined to find some 
way in which to secure a place as a sailor on some 
Atlantic ship. But the offer of a job of chopping 
one hundred cords of wood made to him by his uncle, 
Thomas Garfield, called his attention away for a 
while, only to make it to return with greater deter- 
mination. 

The woodland where he worked for his Uncle 
Thomas, was situated near Newberg, and not very 
far from Lake Erie, and often, during his stay, 
he walked over to look out upon the changing hues 
of that ocean of fresh water. Once in a while he 
saw stately ships enter the harbor and furl their 
sails, and his heart beat fast with excited ambi- 



72 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

tion. Yet he purposed not to be a sailor on so 
small a sea as Lake Erie. The mightiest oceans 
seemed none too large for him ; and the idea of sail-- 
ing on the lake, was unworthy of his ambition. 

Yet it occurred to him, as he chopped and pon- 
dered, — and chopping wood is a great promoter of 
thought, — that he could learn something of shipping 
by a trip on the lake and thus make more certain his 
employment in some Atlantic port. Hence, with a 
wisdom beyond his years, he resolved to try his hand 
at the business nearer home ; and if he liked the 
work, to seek some seaport as an experienced hand. 

When the last stroke of the axe had been given, 
and the wood was all firmly and evenly piled for 
measurement, he started secretly and alone to Cleve- 
land to see what chance he might find to ship as a 
deck-hand, or common sailor. He had heard that 
sailors were wanted, and had no doubt of his 
ability to find' a place. Hence, with considerable 
confidence the awkward wood-chopper searched 
along the wharves for a vessel of such dimensions as 
would be suitable for his purpose. At last he found 
one large enough and with sails enough to be called 
a ''stately, gallant ship," and he stepped on the deck 
from the wharf, alongside which the vessel was 
moored. Several rough-looking men were at work 
washing the deck and splicing the rigging. 

*' Where is the captain of this ship ? " asked he of 
a sailor. 

The sailor made no answer, but, with a queer 
expression of countenance, stared at the intruder. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 73 

''Can you tell me where I can see the captain?" 
asked he of another, The sailor with a motion of 
the hand indicated that the captain was below, and 
spoke not a word. 

*' Rather strict discipline I should say," thought 
James, as he approached the hatchway. 

Suddenly the captain appeared at the hatches, who 
seemed at first astonished to see a stranger aboard 
his ship. He was almost too drunk to walk and 
James felt anxious lest the besotted, bloated wretch 
should fall backward into the hold, 

"I would like to speak to the captain," said James 
to the drunken man. 

For a stranger to board his ship without permis- 
sion was evidently no light offense in the eyes of 
the captain. But to venture to speak to him, and 
especially to be ignorant of the fact that he was the 
captain, was too great an insult to be endured. The 
captain's wrath was uncontrollable. 

"What in the are you here for ? " yelled the 

inebriate. '' Get out of this yeare craft, you sneakin' 
thief!" 

There was not a fight, but if the captain had been 

sober and had indulged in such abuse, profanity and 

gesticulations, James would" have picked up the rum- 

! soaked tyrant and ducked him in the harbor. For 

James had inherited a powerful frame, and had 

I increased his natural strength greatly by hard work. 

! But he swallowed his wrath, and, leaving the 

' drunken wretch to vent his rage on some poor sailor^ 

I he walked away with nearly all the poetry of a sail- 



74 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

or's life oozing swiftly out of his brain and heart. 
It was a great shock. It made him feel as if he had 
met with a great loss. For he never again encour- 
aged the dreams of a sailor's happy life. His long- 
ing for the sea was never wholly overcome, but his 
views of its hardships underwent an entire change. 

In a discouraged mood he sought his uncle's house 
with a hope, perhaps, of securing another job of work 
in the woods. There he learned that his cousins 
were soon to start out with a canal boat, owned by 
his uncle, to bring coal from the mines to Cleve- 
land, on the Ohio Canal. Hearing of no other 
employment, he asked the privilege of going with the 
boat in some capacity. The only place they felt he 
was capable of filling was a driver boy to lead the 
horses along the bank of the canal, as they dragged 
the boat toward its destination. It seems that it 
never occurred to James that, by taking such employ- 
ment on the canal, he was throwing himself directly 
into the company and into the work which his father 
so much disliked, and to avoid which he had taken 
his children into the forest. 

He soon found it a calling for which he was not 
fitted, or at least one which such a spirit as his could 
not long endure. 

He never complained of his treatment by his 
employer or superiors. The captain, Jonathan 
Myers, and his wife, were very favorably inclined 
toward him because of his strict adherence to the 
truth. The canal boys were notorious for their long 
yarns, and often preferred to tell a lie when it was 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 7^ 

much more for their interest to tell the truth. Hence, 
his eccentric adherence to the facts made him unpop- 
ular with them. He was clearly out of his place. 
He felt it, and told the kind captain that he should 
not stay long. He had agreed to stay three months 
at ten dollars per month, and, as long as he could, 
he faithfully kept his contract. But the long, monot- 
onous tramps beside the horses, or the dull stops to 
await the passage of crowded locks gave him consid- 
erable time to think. He knew that his mother had 
always desired to have him in some way obtain a 
liberal education. He felt keenly the fact that he 
was engaged in a calling which had not her approval. 
The cursing, fighting and low conversation among 
the men were distasteful to him. Once he was com- 
pelled to defend himself from an attack of an over- 
bearing bully, and, it is said that James grappled 
with his opponent like a lion, and with dangerous 
precipitation sent the fellow rolling into the bottom 
of a flat boat. Men and boys were respected there 
according to their strength of muscle and powers of 
endurance. These he possessed in an eminent 
degree, and was seldom involved in any dispute. 

Near the end of his term of three months, he was 
offered a position as steersman with an advance of 
wages. He had often been called upon to relieve 
the steersman, and his judgment was so mature, and 
his skill so apparent, that the captain's wife advised 
him to make it his profession for life. She urged 
the captain to secure the place for him, because 
she "felt much safer when Jim was at the helm." 



76 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

But James could not be persuaded to make a new 
contract, nor did the large-hearted captain urge the 
matter. He said : 

"Jim is too good a boy to stick to the canal. He 
loves his books too well to be confined to this hard 
life." 

It was during this period that he met Dr. J. 
P. Robinson, a physician and preacher, who has 
been ever since that time a devoted friend. The 
doctor was an able and talkative man, whose good 
impulses were ever finding vent in some unexpected 
deed of kindness, and he had a great liking for James 
from the time of their first meeting. He advised 
him to find some place where he could work for 
his board and go to school, and told him of the great 
things he might do, and the great name he might 
gain by persevering in the attempt to obtain learn- 
ing. The advice was not lost upon James, and he 
secretly resolved to find a place, if possible, where he 
could follow the doctor's advice. 

Near the close of his three months' engagement, 
he began to be greatly afflicted with the fever and 
ague, which was a sad enemy of all the canal boat- 
men. The disease increased in virulence with alarm- 
ing rapidity. His duties in caring for the careful 
passage of the boat, when meeting another, often 
required him to wade in the water, and sometimes 
he ventured in waist-deep. Such frequent baths, 
with the subsequent chill of the wet clothing which 
he wore until it was dry, greatly aggravated the 
disease. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^J 

One day after he became so weak that he could 
scarcely perform his work, while he was engaged in 
fastening a rope at the stern of the boat, he reached 
over the side to lift the rope from the water. He 
did not realize how weak he had become. He could 
not lift the rope. He tugged at it for a few moments, 
and then, while attempting to get a firmer hold, lost 
his balance and fell headlong into the water. 

He had never learned to swim and he was in great 
danger of drowning. Fortunately, the rope which 
was the cause of the accident lay in the water within 
reach, and he had the presence of mind to clutch it, 
while the hands on the boat pulled him out. The 
shock and the chill of the cold water were more than 
his weak frame could endure. All the symptoms of 
a dangerous fever followed, and he determined to 
hasten home. In his journey he was assisted as far 
as Newberg by friends, but from that place, while 
burning with fever and dizzy with the ague, he 
walked determinedly home to his mother's cottage. 



78 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER VI. 

EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. 

SLOW RECOVERY. — MEETING WITH MR. BATES. — A PRIVATE TUTOR. 
— DETERMINED BEGINNING. — THE GEAUGA SEMINARY. — ESTI- 
MATES THE COST OF A TERM AT SCHOOL. — EARNS A SMALL SUM TO 
START WITH. — HIS MOTHER'S HELP. — BOARDING HIMSELF AT 
CHESTER. — PUDDING AND MOLASSES. — THE ADVANTAGES OF A 
HEALTHY BODY. — TEACHING SCHOOL. — VACATION WORK. — IN- 
TEREST IN RELIGION. — THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. —RELIGIOUS 
PERSECUTION. — TRUSTWORTHY WORK. — A GOOD NAME. 

For weeks after his return to his home, he was 
confined to his bed by the fever. He was very sick. 
The disease was dangerous. The mercurial medicines 
prescribed appear to have been more dangerous. Yet 
after a few weeks he began slowly to recover, notwith- 
standing the depressing effects of exhaustion, ague 
and calomel. His mother's faithful nursing overcame 
both the disease and the prescription. 

Again he was given an opportunity to think. He 
could not work, play or read. He was compelled by 
his inherited disposition to study, plan and dream of 
the future. He would never be a sailor. That was 
decided. He would never be a steersman on a canal. 
That, too, was settled. He could not content him- 
self with the life of an indifferent carpenter, or even 
with that of a successful wood-chopper. What would 
he do after he had regained his strength.? 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 79 

This question was of untold importance to him 
and to others. Far greater than he then dreamed. 
The advice of Doctor Robinson, of the captain of 
the canal boat, and the prayers of his mother were 
not lost upon him. 

His Uncle Amos, who frequently came to his bed- 
side, added his precepts to the already strong evi- 
dence of the value of scholarship. Lying day after 
day, unable to move in his bed from one position 
owing to the ague cake which stubbornly refused to 
be reduced, he revolved in his mind various schemes 
for securing an education. He had nearly decided 
to try again the district school and swallow his pride, 
provided a teacher was engaged who could help him 
along, and had determined to seek the advice of 
some suitable person about the books he might need, 
when a most fortunate circumstance happened to 
give direction to his plans. 

Samuel D. Bates, who has since been extensively 
known and revered as a Baptist preacher, was 
employed to teach school in Orange, and his atten- 
tion was called to the studious and upright life which 
James was reputed to have led. He was especially 
impressed with the fact that it was said by all, 
that, through the poverty, wants and temptations of 
his life, James had not swerved from the honest 
truth. Neither wealth, nor fame, nor culture could 
have given the boy such a claim on the good man's 
heart. Mr. Bates sought the acquaintance of the 
Garfield family and was soon on intimate terms with 
James. His advice to him was clear and decided. 



80 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

He told him that many boys as old and as ignorant 
as himself, had become great and good by persever- 
ance and industry. Mr. Bates advised him to fix his 
mind with unflinching determination on securing a 
college education. Mrs. Garfield, with unmeasured 
joy, saw the influence which Mr. Bates was having 
upon James, and, with delight, saw in the behavior 
and plans of her son, that he had set his face reso- 
lutely toward learning and its accompanying respon- 
sibilities. 

On his recovery, which was exceedingly slow, he 
abandoned the idea of attending further any public 
school, and began a course of private instruction, 
with Mr. Bates for his teacher. Under the impetus 
of the fresh inspiration which James had obtained, 
his progress was surprising even to himself He 
had feared that he was too backward to enter any 
academy without being ashamed of himself, but with 
this assistant, he would soon take rank with the 
best. 

It was a singular sight to see that awkward wood- 
chopper, fresh from the timber lands and the canal 
boat, pouring over a grammar or an arithmetic. 
With features made coarse by exposure, and pallid 
with sickness, with his stiff hair, which the sun had 
made crisp and wiry, standing up in a great tuft 
from his forehead, and with hands grim and horny, 
he had a most unpromising appearance as a candi- 
date for literature or scholarship. There were those 
who regarded the attempt which James was making, 
as a very foolish effort of a country farm-hand " to 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 8 1 

get above his business/' and even said that it would 
be better to advise the boy to lay uj^ his money and 
to help his mother, rather than waste his valuable 
time in useless " book learning." Even Uncle Amos, 
with all his reverence for the ministry, and admira- 
tion of able temperance lecturers, did not think it 
worth while for any boy of such plebian stock as the 
neighborhood of Orange was supposed to produce, 
to spend his time in securing anything more than a 
knowledge of the ''common English branches." 
But James had made an unchangeable resolution ; 
and, with a keen love for books, and a heart greatly 
moved by the religious interest which the Church of 
the Disciples was awakening in that community, he 
stubbornly compelled every hindering circumstance 
to bend to his will. 

At noon by his carpenter's bench, at evening after 
his work on his mother's farm, he sought his books 
and solved arithmetical problems. 

At this time there stood on a beautiful eminence 
about twelve miles from Orange, and in the town of 
Chester, a commodious, three-story wooden building, 
used for a school of a higher grade than the common 
schools, and called the "Geauga Seminary." It was 
in one of the most charming localities in Ohio. 
The school was then in a very prosperous condition, 
and attracted students from distant parts of the State. 
It was established by the Freewill Baptists as a 
denominational school, and, but for the unfortunate 
religious persecution in which that denomination in 
Ohio was concerned with others, it would have con- 



82 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

tinued, doubtless, in their hands, and might long ago 
have been a college. Its standard of education at 
that time was not higher than the lower classes in 
the high schools now. But that was a great advance 
upon the rudimentary knowledge imparted in the 
common schools. 

Mr. Bates had been a student at the Geauga Sem- 
inary, and pointed out to James the great advantage 
it would be to him if he could manage to attend that 
school. At the time the suggestion was made to 
James, there did not appear to be any probability or 
possibility of his being able to attend the school. 
He could neither spare the time from work, nor get 
the money with which to pay his board. Yet his 
courage abated not at the prospect. His mother 
agreed with him that somehow and in some way he 
must go. All his family, including Thomas, now 
grown to manhood, and his sisters, Mehitable and 
Mary, now in the ranks of womanhood, were kindly 
disposed, but they were poor. If he attended the 
academy he must depend on himself and his mother. 

When the advantages of the seminary at Chester 
began to be discussed in the community. Uncle 
Amos thought that it might be well to permit his 
sons to attend school there, provided they could earn 
the money, as James must do. Long and anxious 
discussions followed in both families, sometimes in a 
kind of joint convention, and sometimes in their 
separate circles, upon the ways and means for 
obtaining an academic education. They calculated 
the cost of the tuition, then estimated how much 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 83 

their food would cost if they had no luxuries at all 
and boarded themselves on the very cheapest food, 
such as hasty pudding, and corn bread. They were 
compelled to add the cost of some stout cloth for a 
suit of clothes, with a cap and a pair of boots for 
each. How provokingly it did count up ! How 
great were the difficulties in the way of those young 



men 



If they boarded themselves, how many dishes 
would it take, how many knives and forks, how many 
towels, and how many kettles ? All those must be 
borrowed from home to save the expense of purchas- 
ing new. Yes, that could be arranged ; but yet the 
project seemed very distant. 

It was not until some months after the matter was 
first talked of, that a way opened for James. He 
had an opportunity to earn a few dollars on an 
unusually profitable Job of carpentering, and, although 
the sum seemed a mere pittance for one in his cir- 
cumstances to begin such an undertaking, he resolved 
to make a beginning and trust the future to open 
the way to further advancement. 

In 1849, that year made memorable by the discov- 
ery of gold in California, and which witnessed the 
departure of so many young men for the gold fields, 
James began his course of instruction at Chester. 
It was the humblest beginning that could be made, 
and it must have most severely wounded his pride to 
be associated with scholars more advanced and so 
much more favored in worldly possessions. He was 
too brave to exhibit any misgivings, or let people 



84 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

know that he noticed the distinctions which are al- 
ways, but often unconsciously, made between the 
rich and poor by the best of men and women. 

A description of their style of living at the Geauga 
Seminary has been given to the author by one of his 
room-mates who attended the school the second term 
of James's stay at Chester. There were three of them 
in one room — James, his cousin, Henry Boynton, 
and Orren Judd. The room was about ten feet wide 
and twelve feet long, and was in a small farm-house 
near the academy. They selected that room because 
it was cheaper than those which were let in the 
academy building, and for the same reason the three 
boys occupied but one room. With the two narrow 
beds, their cook-stove, boxes, and three chairs, there 
was but little room for themselves. They divided 
up the work, and each alternately prepared the meals 
for a day. When the fire was burning in the old 
box-stove, which had but one cover, the heat often 
drove out all but the cook. 

Their meals, however, were often cold, and for 
many weeks their only diet consisted of mush and 
milk. When the bread from home gave out, the 
supply being renewed nearly every week, they re- 
turned invariably to their hasty pudding, or to their 
hot corn-cakes and molasses. They were at the 
academy to study, and not to cook. To keep alive 
was the only object in eating at all ; and whenever 
they were compelled to eat, they did it with dispatch, 
and returned to their books. Near the end of their 
second term, the boys became very much dissatisfied 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 85 

with their board, and made up their minds that 
boarding themselves was not a successful enterprise. 
James is said to have thrown down his spoon one day 
as he finished his dish of pudding and molasses, 
saying, — 

'' I won't eat any more of that stuff, if I starve! " 
~ But all their drawbacks did not appear to hinder 
their progress in their studies. James worked very 
hard, and made such masterly strides upward that he 
soon had reason to feel proud of his achievements. 
His hard fare, hard work, and close application made 
no impression upon the hardy constitution which 
had been disciplined by chopping wood, planting 
crops, and drawing the plane ; and while his class- 
mates and room-mates faltered and weakened under 
the strain and the privations, he kept steadily pull- 
ing onward, with his health and strength unim- 
paired. 

How few successful men have spent their entire 
youth in school. The keenest intellects and the 
greatest minds of earth have almost universally been 
found with those whose youth was inured to hard- 
ships, and whose early years were spent in physical 
hard work. With a healthy body, no man need de- 
spair of getting an education, even if he must begin 
in middle age. A college education is such a very 
small part of the learning necessary, in this day, to 
entitle a person to a position among scholars or men 
of letters, that it is universally regarded by cultivated 
men as only a beginning. No man with a rugged 
body and a thoughtful mind need lack a college edu- 



86 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

cation. The knowledge of mathematics, of science, 
of the languages, or of history is no more valuable 
because it has been learned inside the halls of a col- 
lege building. They can all be learned elsewhere; 
and to be a leader among men, much that is more 
difficult and more profound must be acquired away 
from them. The boy who has graduated from a col- 
lege has only just begun, if he really hopes for suc- 
cess ; and this after-education cannot be acquired in 
the rough contact with the cares of life, without a 
sound body to draw upon. Many men who never 
heard a college lecture, and never darkened the 
doors of the humblest university, have started late 
in life, with vigorous health, and acquired a fund of 
learning beyond that of college professors, and per- 
formed great deeds, which precocious students had 
not the strength to execute. All schools and colleges 
are a help, but they are not an absolute necessity. 
Health is always a necessity. It gives the late 
scholar a strong advantage over an early one. It 
gives the power to become learned and great to him, 
who may have passed a score of years in ignorance. 
It is an inestimable blessing to any one, and worth 
the sacrifice of early school-days. Experience, as in 
the case of James, has taught that a neglected early 
education is no loss, if the young man possesses the 
moral courage to acknowledge his ignorance, and 
vigorously sets himself at the task of making up his 
deficiencies. It often requires more fortitude than 
to fight a battle. But he who wins in that contest 
will conquer in all others. James lost nothing in the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 8/ 

end by being poor and out of school in his boyhood, 
and others need not. 

Even the delay in his progress, caused by his ab- 
sence for the purpose of earning money enough to 
pay his way, seems to have been easily made up. 
Having an opportunity to teach a school in his na- 
tive town, he eagerly accepted the position, and was 
absent from the academy the entire winter. 

That school was a difficult one to control, and was 
noted for its unruly boys. James was an enthusiast 
then, on the subject of learning, and took the most 
eager interest in all the lessons of the school. He 
was also a believer in good order, and in his ability 
to maintain it. It is told of him that several of the 
boys, led by a stubborn young giant, attempted to 
conduct themselves unseemly during the school 
hours, and engaged in open rebellion. When the 
rebellion was crushed, which was not long after the 
teacher set about it, there were several sore heads, 
a giant with a lame back, and the most perfect de- 
corum throughout the school-room. 

During these academic days, James took an active 
and permanent interest in religious matters. His free 
spirit and strong independence of character inclined 
him toward the Church of the Disciples, the creed 
of which, if it may be said to have had any in that 
day, was untrammeled by traditions and unfettered by 
any laws, save the words of the Bible, without change 
or comment. They formed a religious community, 
in which all were supposed to have an equal share, 
and in which every one could preach, if he so de- 



SS THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

sired, without the usual ceremony of ordination or 
installation. It claimed then, as the large church 
does now, to follow the example of Jesus, as the dis- 
ciples followed it, and to be as free from church or- 
ganization and creeds, as were the apostles. Alex- 
ander Campbell, the founder of the sect, was long a 
member of the Baptist church, and claimed to differ 
from them only in his disbelief in the binding force 
of the church creed, and in the necessity of ministe- 
rial ordinations. Such, in the main, seems to be the 
faith of the church he founded. 

In 1848 and 1849, the religious movement in favor 
of the Disciples was very strong in the northern 
part of Ohio, and Mrs. Garfield was one of its early 
converts. With her, were many members of the 
families in Orange, including " Uncle Amos." They 
were a sensible, devout, sincere and unobtrusive sect, 
and their belief and example naturally appealed to 
the large-hearted, plain people of Ohio. 

It may be that the church would not have grown 
with such rapidity, had it not been for a most absurd 
persecution which sprung up among the Baptist and 
Freewill Baptist churches. Opposition and unjust 
persecution have ever been meat and drink for new 
religious movements. Churches thrive under oppo- 
sition, and lag in profound peace. Many of the 
Freewill Baptists, having gained considerable 
strength themselves by the persecution they had 
endured, were foolish enough to repeat the ever- 
recurring event of the past history, and in turn be- 
gan the persecution of the Disciples. It was a 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 89 

movement discountenanced by many of the best 
members, and few churches, as a body, took a share 
in it. But the spirit of persecution showed itself in 
little acts of discourtesy, in refusing to speak when 
accosted, in shunning companionship, in refusing 
to allow the children to play together, in favoritism 
in school, and on public occasions, and sometimes in 
angry personal disputes. 

James had no sympathy whatever with that spirit, 
and sympathized deeply with the inoffensive yet 
injured party. The Geauga Seminary at Chester 
felt the effects of public opinion, and became the 
scene of frequent disputes and of unpleasant religious 
controversy. The same feeling existed in other 
schools ; and as the " Disciples of Christ " grew 
stronger and bolder, the necessity for an institution 
of learning for their sons and daughters forced itself 
on their attention, and led to the foundation of an 
academy at Hiram, Portage county, of which we 
shall speak further in the next chapter. 

In all the discussions on religious topics, James 
was the outspoken champion of entire religious free- 
dom, and fought with all his heart against any ostra- 
cism or persecution because of religious opinions. H(i 
claimed the right to follow the faith the Bible appear- 
ed to him to teach, and stoutly maintained that every 
other person should be given the same sacred right. 
His Christian faith and his behavior were both open, 
courageous, generous and impartial, and his advocacy 
of the Disciples did much in that early day to 
strengthen the stakes of their tabernacle. 



90 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

His life as a Christian young man did much to 
assist the creed to which he adhered. For no oppos- 
ing politician has ever been found, — and they are the 
most merciless of critics, — who would venture to say 
that James led an inconsistent life. One old gentle- 
man residing in Mayfield, who knew James in that 
early day, said of him afterwards, that, — 

" His conscience kinder went ahead on him inter 
his work, an' ye could allers trust him to du any job, 
hoein', rakin,' hewin', planin', teachin', or any other 
thing, fur he'd feel much the wust ef he left any 
out as it had n't dorter be. He did n't cover up 
nothin' h'ed spiled, an' he'd work just as fast if the 
man who paid him warnt around. He was right-up- 
'n-down squar ! " 

Such is the universal testimony of those for whom 
he labored in field and shop, woodland and school- 
room during his vacations, and when the strongest 
temptations which ever beset a young man urged 
him to slight his work and obtain money without 
giving an honest equivalent. Such a name was 
of inestimable value to him in after years, and to the 
church whose cause he thus early espoused. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 9 1 



CHAPTER VII. 

SCHOLAR AND TEACHER AT HIRAM. 

LEAVING CHESTER, — DESCRIPTION OF HIRAM. — THE CROWN OF OHIO. 
— THE ECLECTIC INSTITUTE. — THE COURSE OP STUDY. — A LEADER 
A3IONG THE STUDENTS. — JANITOR OF THE BUILDING. — URGED TO 
BECOME A PREACHER. —DETERMINED TO ATTEND COLLEGE. — THE 
DEBATING CLUB. — A REVOLT. — OUTSIDE STUDIES. — WORK AS A 
TEACHER. — WORKS ON ALONE INTO THE COLLEGE TEXT-BOOKS. — 
BORROWS MONEY OF HIS UNCLE THOMAS. — STARTS FOR WILLIAMS- 
TOWN COLLEGE. 

Notwithstanding all his hardships and annoy- 
ances at Chester, James parted with the school and 
town, at the end of his last term there, with feel- 
ings of sincere regret. It had opened a new life to 
him, and he was profoundly grateful. It was an 
excellent school. Its teachers were faithful, kind 
and competent. The boys and girls who attended 
there went for the purpose of making themselves 
useful in the future, and they had been most con- 
genial companions. The wide landscape, which 
stretched far away in every direction from the pleas- 
ant hill-top where the academy stood, was one he 
often loved to contemplate, and it had exercised its 
useful influence in shaping the course of his life. 
There, among other pleasant faces, he had been 
gratified to meet the modest, quiet girl they called 



92 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

'Crete Rudolph, whose home was in Hiram, and 
who was to cross his path again. He had obtained 
in that recitation room, they called " the chapel," 
many new ideas, and a fund of encouragement. He 
came to it a coarse and awkward woodsman, and in 
portions of two years, it had lifted him into an aspir- 
ing scholar, with attainments worthy of any of his 
age. It had made the world more beautiful, more 
valuable, and life more earnest and sublime. It had 
revealed to him the latent power within himself. 
It had shown him the distant mountain-tops of fame 
and greatness, and set his feet in the path that led 
heavenward. It is said of him that he was wise 
enough to see and appreciate it all, and if he did, 
his heart throbbed sadly as he turned away from 
those beloved scenes. 

His life at the Chester Academy had much of 
sunshine in it after all. He had not always worn 
the coarsest clothes, nor had he every term boarded 
himself. For to-day. teachers will show to the 
visitor the battered and narrow chamber in the third 
story of the academy, in which he slept during the 
two terms he boarded in the building, and the same 
old stove at which he warmed himself. 

Thus, with feelings of gratitude for the past, and 
with high hopes of the future, James turned from 
Chester toward Hiram. He had no more capital 
then, than when he came to Chester, except the 
ability to command higher wages as a teacher, and 
the increased skill which a few months more of 
practice had given him as a carpenter. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 93 

The town of Hiram is in Portage county, and its 
situation is such that it might be styled "the crown 
of Ohio." It is located very close to that elevated 
line where the waters divide, one part flowing south- 
ward to the Ohio river, and the other i:)ortion north- 
ward to Lake Erie. From the commanding eminence 
where the college is located, the panorama is beauti- 
ful and extensive. The spectator looks down upon 
fields of grain and tracks of woodland, and away to 
; hills and forests, with glimpses of the neatest of 
. farm-houses in the country, and of clustered dwell- 
I ings in the distant villages, adding the romance of 
art to the attractions of nature. So varied is the 
landscape and so serenely quiet seems everything in 
sight, that many beholders stand and gaze, and gaze 
again, with an inexhaustible satisfaction. It is one 
of those sweet and quiet retreats whose embowered 
walks and shady lawns seem most consistent with a 
thoughtful mood and a virtuous mind. Strikingly 
suggestive of the sylvan shades of antiquity, in the 
shape of the hills and the verdure of its trees, the 
college seems to be a part of the natural landscape. 

There, in 1849, the leaders among the Churches of 
the Disciples decided to locate their academy ; and 
March i, 1850, the legislature of Ohio granted them 
a charter, under the name of ''The Western Reserve 
Eclectic Institute." Among the founders of the 
I institute was Mr. Zeb Rudolph, the father of Lucretia 
Rudolph, of whom mention was made in the last 
chapter. There was a flourishing church of their 
' faith near the spot which they selected, and a neigh- 



94 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

borhood composed of very intelligent farmers, many of 
whom were born in New England. Professor B. A, 
Hinsdale, in writing for the '' Centennial History of 
Education in Ohio," thus speaks of the aims which 
the founders had in establishing the school : 

''The aims of the school were both general and 
special ; more narrowly they were these : 

(i) To provide a sound scientific and literary 
education. 

(2) To temper and sweeten such education with 
moral and scriptural knowledge. 

(3) To educate young men for the ministry. 
One peculiar tenet of the religious movement in 

which it originated, was impressed upon the Eclec- 
tic Institute at its organization. The Disciples 
believed that the Bible had been in a degree obscur- 
ed by the theological speculations and ecclesiastical 
systems. Hence, their religious movement was a 
revolt from the theology of the schools, and an over- 
ture to men to come face to face with the Scriptures. 
They believed, also, that to the Holy Writings be- 
longed a larger place in general culture than had yet 
been accorded to them. Accordingly, in all their 
educational institutions they have emphasized the 
Bible and its related branches of knowledge. This 
may be called the distinctive feature of their schools. 
The charter of the Eclectic Institute, therefore, de- 
clared the purpose of the institution to be : "■ The 
instruction of youth of both sexes in the various 
branches of literature and science, especially of moral 
science as based on the facts and precepts of the 
Holy Scriptures." 

"The Institute rose at once to a high degree of 
popularity. On the opening day, eighty-four students 
were in attendance, and soon the number rose to 
two or three hundred per term. Students came 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 95 

from a wide region of country. Ohio furnished the 
larger number, but there was a liberal patronage 
from Canada, New York, and Pennsylvania ; a con- 
siderable number came from the Southern States, 
and a still larger from the Western. These students 
differed widely in age, ability, culture, and wants. 
Some received grammar school instruction ; others 
high school instruction ; while others still pushed 
on far into the regular college course. Classes were 
organized and taught in the collegiate studies as they 
were called for ; Language, Mathematics, Literature, 
Science, Philosophy, and History. No degrees were 
conferred, and no students were graduated. After 

1 they had mastered the English studies, students were 
allowed a wide range of choice. The principle of 
election had free course. A course of study was 
published in the catalogue after the first year or two ; 

I but it was rather a list of studies taught as they were 
called for than a curricuhmi that students pretended 
closely to follow." 

The Institute had passed through one term when 
James appeared at Hiram ready for work, He was 
as courageous and as poor as ever. His cousins were 
with him, but they had abandoned the expectation of 
keeping pace with him. He carved his own way 
and was, at that time, a '' law unto himself." He had 
won the battle for mental supremacy before he entered 
at Hiram, and ever after he was treated by the 
many students who came to Hiram from Chester, and 
soon by all at Hiram, as though he was of a different 
mould from the masses, and one who was expected 
to learn faster and know more than his class-mates. 

Still the weights of poverty hung to his feet and 
the struggles for a livelihood were long, severe, bitter. 



96 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

One of the first attempts he made to make sure of 
food while he studied, was to secure the place of 
janitor of the building, where he might build the fires, 
sweep the recitation rooms, and ring the bell for a 
small sum per month. He that afterwards became 
a professor in the same rooms he had swept as a 
young man ; he that was to be the President of that 
college, the bell of which he was glad of a chance to 
ring, began at the very lowest and stooped to con- 
quer. 

The good Christian people who took an active share 
in supporting the institute, noticed his meekness 
and recognized his superior abilities. They regard- 
ed him as providentially adapted to the work of 
preaching the gospel, and repeatedly urged him to 
follow that profession. They did not find in him 
any disinclination to do his duty; but there was at 
one time a hesitancy, on his part, about entering the 
ministry, owing to his distrust of his ability and 
fitness. He began, however, as early as his twenty- 
first year to fill the pulpits in various churches of his 
own denomination ; and before his graduation or de- 
parture from Hiram, he was in most flattering demand j 
to supply vacant pastorates in the vicinity. 

Some urged him to be satisfied with the instruction at 
the institute, which was not for many years after a col- j 
lege, and to abandon his plans for a collegiate course. 
But no offer, however large, and no place however 
high, could induce him to rest satisfied with anything 
less than the highest educational culture. 

Living upon the simplest farmer's fare, and sleep- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 97 

ing in the humblest and plainest of the basement 
rooms in the college, he kept steadily before him 
the hope of being able to stand among the highest 
and best in the land. He was a lover of college 
sports, and was eager to win the games in which he 
took part. 

But the place he loved most to visit was the de- 
bating club which was to him both a recreation and 
a study. The debates were always vigorous and 
scholarly on the part of a portion of the students. 
and somewhat light and jocose on the part of others ; 
and it appears that the debating club to which James 
belonged had a serious division, owing to a differ- 
ence in the tastes of the members. As is usually 
the case, those who enjoyed frivolity better than 
sound sense 'were in the majority and could carry by 
a preponderance of votes any measure which they 
brought before the club. 

The contest over some matter concerning a public 
debate, become so serious and bitter that young 
Garfield arose, 'in considerable anger, and declared 
that sooner than be compelled to waste his time in 
such nonsense as the majority proposed, he would 
form another society, if he had to debate alone with 
himself. Believing the minority had rights which 
the majority were bound to respect, he demanded 
concessions from the party in power, or he would 
withdraw. The concessions were not made, and he 
set up the standard of revolt. To his colors the 
leading students flocked, and a second society was 

7 



98 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

formed with him for President which long outlived 
the one from which they withdrew. 

It is said that he did not confine himself to the 
regular studies of the institute, but used his extra 
hours in reading history and theological works. 
The work which he accomplished must have been 
nearly double that of many students. Yet he found 
time for many vigorous games. He soon left many 
of the classes behind, ajid at the opening of his sec- 
ond year he was appointed as a teacher of some of 
the lower classes. In that way, by doubling his 
hours of work, and taking for study, many hours of 
the night, he was able to keep on in his recitations 
with the advanced classes, while he taught the lower 
grades. The way did not open for him to secure the 
funds with which to go to college, at the time when 
he had prepared himself for the Freshman classes, 
and so he kept on teaching, and preaching, and 
studying the text books of the regular college 
courses. It was for a long time in doubt whether he 
would be able to enter any college, his financial 
means were so limited. But he never abandoned 
the hope, sooner or later, in some way, to obtain the 
money. He was not one of those young men who 
wished to graduate from college for the social stand- 
ing which it was supposed, through the ignorance 
of the public, to give a man, whether he had learned 
little or much. He desired the opportunities which 
colleges, libraries, and learned men could give to en- 
large the field of his study. He knew that he could 
obtain elsewhere all that the colleges could give, and 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 99 

more, by persevering hard work over the books, and 
actually did secure for himself the first two years' 
course of college classes. Yet he saw that he could 
progress faster with congenial associates and among 
men more learned than he. 

One day, he thought of his uncle, Thomas Gar- 
field, whose various enterprises had been successful, 
and who had acquired a fortune. It occurred to him 
that his uncle might be willing to lend him enough 
to enable him to attend two years at Williams Col- 
lege in Massachusetts, where he heard that the ex- 
pense was not great, and the standard of scholarship 
high. He had studied so faithfully that he felt very 
sure of entering two years in advance. 

But he disliked very much to ask any person to 
lend him money. It was a most humiliating step to 
take. He sought advice from relatives, and they 
told him to try it. So he reluctantly went to his 
uncle,and asked for the use of five hundred dollars, 
until he could finish his college course, and earn that 
sum by teaching. His uncle had always been kind 
to him, and had seemed to take a friendly interest in 
his welfare ; but yet the nephew had the strongest 
doubt regarding the success of his petition for so 
large an amount of money. It was a large sum for 
a poor young man to borrow, but a very small sum 
on which to undertake two years of college life, five 
hundred miles from home. 

His uncle met him in a generous manner, and say- 
ing that he felt sure of his pay, if his nephew lived, 
loaned young Garfield the sum for which he asked. 



too THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The young man, conscientiously desiring that his 
uncle should be secured in case of his death while in 
college, procured a policy on his life, in a Life Insur- 
ance company, for five hundred dollars, payable in 
case of his death to his uncle. 

Thus the way opened to him, at last, for a col- 
legiate education, and young Garfield, full of joy and 
ambition, took leave of his mother at Orange, and of 
his school-mate, Lucretia Rudolph, at Hiram, and 
with the sum his uncle had lent him, slightly aug- 
mented by a little sum he had saved, started on his 
long journey toward the classic Berkshire hills of the 
old Bay State. 

Just before his departure for Williams he wrote a 
private letter to a friend, explaining his reasons for 
choosing Williams rather than the college of his 
denomination at Bethany. A part of it was as fol- 
lows : 

" After thinking it all over I have made up my 
mind to go to Williamstown, Massachusetts. * ^ -^ 
There are three reasons why I have decided not to 
go to Bethany, ist. The course of study is not so 
extensive or thorough as in Eastern colleges. 2d. 
Bethany leans too heavily toward slavery. 3d. I 
am the son of Disciple parents, am one myself, and 
have had but little acquaintance with people of other 
views ; and, having always lived in the West, I 
think it will make me more liberal, both in my relig- 
ious and general views and sentiments, to go into 
a new circle, where I shall be under new influence. 
These considerations led me to conclude to go to 
some New England college. I therefore wrote to 
the President of Brown University, Yale and Wil- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 10 1 

Hams, setting forth the amount of study I had done, 
and asking how long it would take me to finish their 
course. 

''These answers are now before me. All tell me 
I can graduate in two years. They are all brief, 
business notes, but President Hopkins concludes 
with this sentence : ' If you come here we shall be 
glad to do what we can for you.' Other things 
being so nearly equal, this sentence, which seems to 
be a kind of friendly grasp of the hand, has settled 
that question for me. I shall start for Williams next 
week." 



I02 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LIFE AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 

HIS HEALTH.— APPEARANCE OF THE HOOSAC VALLEY. — THE SCEN- 
ERY ABOUT WILLLOIS COLLEGE. —THE GREAT NATURAL AMPHI- 
THEATRE.— THE MOUNTAINS IN OCTOBER. — CHARACTER OF THE 
STUDENTS. — GARFIELD'S HABITS AS A STUDENT. — ENTERS THE 
JUNIOR CLASS. —HIS MODESTY. — THE FRIENDSHIP OF PRESIDENT 
HOPKINS AND PROFESSOR CHADBOURNE. — HIS TRUTHFULNESS AT 
COLLEGE. — HIS GRADUATION. — HIS CLASS-MATES. 

The three years of study at Hiram had not im- 
paired young Garfield's health, and when, in Septem- 
ber, 1854, at twenty-three years of age, he presented 
himself before the faculty at Williamstown College, 
for examination, he was a picture of health and 
strength. His broad shoulders, large face, bright 
blue eyes, high forehead, and brown hair were visi- 
ble over the heads of many of his fellow students, 
and he was at once known among them as the " Ohio 
giant." 

He appears to have been delighted with the pro- 
fessors, with the locality in which the college was 
situated, and with the extended mountain scenery. 
In his letters to his friends in Ohio, he was quite en- 
thusiastic in his descriptions of the men and the 
landscapes. In fact he had been especially favored 
during his school days in the natural scenery which 
surrounded academies and college. Williamstown is 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. IO3 

situated on the Hoosac river, and among the most 
majestic of those mountains of which the term ''Berk- 
shire Hills" is both belittling and misleading. The 
college building stands on the top of a natural emi- 
nence, overlooking a wide plain, which all around it 
stretches away to the distant, towering mountains, 
and reminds the traveler somewhat of the situation 
of Jerusalem, where the city itself is on a hill, with 
higher mountains all around looking down upon it. 
But the great natural amphitheatre, in which the 
college hill at Williamstown stands, is far more at- 
tractive, more extensive, more majestic. The lofty 
mountains appear to enclose the plain, with no 
opening apparent anywhere for the egress of the 
streams whose clear waters unite below the town, to 
form the Hoosac river. Extensive forests of never- 
fading green crown the mountains, while woodlands 
of maple, birch, beach, poplar, and ash, adorn the 
mountain sides and checker the valley. 

In October, and soon after the college term opened, 
the frost and sunlight combined to beautify the land- 
scape, and nowhere in all the world can a more gor- 
geous scene be found than from the encircled plains 
of Williamstown, in the brilliant October days. The 
distant mountains, under their caps of green, are ar- 
rayed in all the varied hues and all the possible com- 
binations and shades which the prism can show. A 
flowery landscape, as enchanting as the fabled beauty 
of the ancient vale of Cashmere. No one will ob- 
tain any idea of its autumn splendor unless he sees 



104 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

it for himself, nor believe the accurate descriptions 
of it until he visits the scene, and for himself 

*' Sees old Hoosac on his throne, 
With hills of beauty gathered round." 

It is no overwrought figure which the Alumni of 
Williams use when they sing : 

" Dear Alma Mater, long as stand, 
Like pillars of our native land, 

These everlasting hills, 
Thy grateful children shall proclaim 
In every clime thy growing fame." 

Aside from its scenery, Williams College possessed 
various attractions for the young Ohio student, which 
caused him to select that college as the most desira- 
ble place to pursue his studies. 

The locality, the design of the founder and incor- 
porators, the conservative character of the president, 
whose highest aim was to sustain a safe college, the 
class of students who frequented its halls, the ab- 
sence of offensive, aristocratic and senseless snobs, 
and the quiet and honest habits of the little native 
community, made it a most appropriate and desirable 
institution for a self-made, country youth, like him. 
His modesty, his dislike for display, his indisposition 
to go anywhere or do anything for the name of it, 
and his desire to work undisturbed by outside attrac- 
tions, as well as his limited means, combined to make 
congenial his opening days at Williams College, 

He was admitted, without question, to the Junior 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. IO5 

; class, he having in three years* time, in the work 
! of preparing for college and in the studies of the 
Freshman and Junior years, accomplished the usual 
work of six years. The achievement is made more 
j astonishing by the large amount of other labor, 
I physical and mental, which he performed during that 
i period, in order to secure his board, clothing and 
tuition. 
j He became at once a favorite of President Hop- 
; kins, and a close friend of Professor Chadbourne, 
j who had been elected a professor one year before. 
I It was a strong recommendation for young Garfield 
to have the esteem and love of two such remarkable 
men. Yet both those gifted scholars have kept him 
I fresh in their memories, and both have watched his 
career with unabated interest. It was among such 
jmen that he made his closest friendship. Only 
thoughtful, studious, and earnest men would have 
seen anything attractive in him. His class-mates 
testify that his Hfe was so retiring and his behavior 
so unostentatious, that he made no especial impres- 
sion on their memories. He studied hard, often 
walked alone in the roads or fields, and attended to 
all his duties with quiet promptness. It was under- 
stood that he was to enter the ministry, and in his 
entire stay they saw nothing inconsistent with that 
profession. He took an especial interest in meta- 
I physical studies, rhetoric, and debate, and was a 
; leading mind among his class-mates on those topics. 
^ During his collegiate course he tried to secure 
' small sums of money by teaching evening writing- 



I06 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

school, in the small towns around Williamstown, but 
was never so successful, in that scattered community, 
as to secure a very profitable number of scholars. 
He dressed very plainly and cheaply, and was com- 
pelled to economize, in every way, — in his board, 
his books, and in his traveling expenses, — in order 
to make the small sum he had secured to last until his 
graduation. He was the humblest of them all. He 
was very poor, and was brave enough to frankly 
acknowledge it. There is no more striking proof of 
the fact, so little understood, that college life is but 
a small part of the discipline and learning necessary 
to a liberal education than is found in the history of 
college classes. How often do we find that th 
honored, brilliant, and influential students sink al- 
most immediately out of sight when they leave the 
college halls and enter the breakers of actual life ; 
while the silent, thoughtful one, whose presence in i 
the class is scarcely remembered, comes conspicu- 
ously to the surface, in civil or military life, and soon 
towers above all his acquaintances and school-day 
associates. Sometimes, in the annals of scientific 
discovery, or of national leadership, the popular and 
brilliant college student is found. Once in a while 
the valedictorian is again heard of in the vanguard 
of civilization, with the great and the good. But the 
rarity of it is a curious and sad feature connected 
with students' lives. It may be that the honors they 
received led them to the fatal conclusion that at their 
graduation they knew all that men need to learn, 
and stopping, they were soon left behind and beneath 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I07 

by the less successful candidates for class-day 
honors. 

Garfield's student days appear to have impressed 
him as but a portion of a whole life of study, and he 
conducted himself as if his graduation was to make 
no break in his pursuit of knowledge. Beginning it 
as if for a long journey, on which it would be unwise, 
at first, to hurry, he left the college as one who has 
passed the first mile, and looks back upon hisprog> 
ress with satisfaction, and forward with unflinching 
determination. He does not appear to have been 
actuated by any desire for fame, neither had he any 
confidence in his ability to acquire riches. He pur- 
posed to do quiet, solid work, either as a preacher, 
lawyer or teacher, and pictured to himself a Hfe of 
studious quiet and religious peace. 

In his college days, his characteristic simplicity 
and truthfulness were noticed and commended. He 
was determined to appear to possess no more than 
his actual acquirements would warrant. If he did 
not understand his lesson, or for some reason was 
behind in his studies, he manfully said so without 
reserve. His teachers never over-estimated him ; for 
his life was transparent, and his words bore the 
intangible but positive impress of truth. This noble 
trait of his character compelled him to make many 
sacrifices. If he neglected his study, there was no 
escape for him in manufactured excuses. If he was 
inferior to other students in certain branches of the 
college studies, he could not make up for it with 
** ponies," stolen translations, or borrowed keys. If 



I08 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

he was late or absent at prayer-time, or at recitation, 
he could not feign sickness, nor evade the monitor's 
inquiries. Hence, he was forced, by his own rigid 
morality, to be thorough in his studies and obedient 
in his behavior. How much of human success and 
human greatness depends on the strictness and wis- 
dom with which parents discipline and educate their 
children into that sublimest and most necessary of 
all acquirements, — invariable and unshaken adher- 
ence to the simple truth ! 

The two years of college life passed quickly with 
him, as they do with all, and the joyful day of gradu- 
ation came to him as to thousands of others. But 
his joy was enhanced by the reflection that he should 
no longer be compelled to live on borrowed money. 
He is said to have longed, even at that early day, to 
be at work paying up his Uncle Thomas. With the 
success of his studies he must have been well satis- 
fied. He had made solid progress. He had made 
many warm friends, especially among the faculty. 
He had secured the metaphysical honors of his class, 
and had the respect of all. Yet, to enable him to 
acquire this, he had drawn upon the future, and he 
longed to be at work. How the desire to see his 
mother, and that other lady at Hiram, may have 
influenced his joy on his graduation day, the histo- 
rian at present can only surmise. 

The class-mates of Mr. Garfield are now scattered 
through the different States of the Union, and are 
nearly all of that steady, sturdy character for which 
he was remarkable. William Rowe Baxter was a 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. IO9 

captain in the regular service, and was killed in 
Mississippi, June 1864; Stephen W. Bowles is a phy- 
sician in Springfield, Massachusetts ; Isaac Bronson 
is a lawyer in New York; Elijah Cutler is a minister, 
and agent of the Bible Society, Boston, Mass. ; Ham- 
ilton N. Eldridge is a lawyer in Chicago, and was 
brevetted a brigadier-general in the war of the rebel- 
lion ; James E. Fay is a lawyer in Chicago ; James 
Gillfillan is a lawyer, and was for a time in the gov- 
ernment service, at Washington ; Charles S. Halsey 
lives at Canandaigua, New York ; James K. Hazen, 
was a Presbyterian minister in Alabama ; Clement 
H. Hill is a lawyer, and clerk of the United States 
Court, in Boston, Massachusetts ; Silas P. Hub- 
bell is a lawyer at Champlain, New York ; Ferris 
Jacobs is a lawyer at Delhi, New York, and was a 
colonel in the war ; Henry M. Jones is a Baptist 
minister ; Henry E. Knox is a lawyer in New York; 
John E. D. Lamberton died in 1857; Charles W. 
McArthur is a Presbyterian minister ; Elizur N. Man- 
ley is a Presbyterian minister at Oakfield, New York ; 
James McLean is a Congregational minister in Wis- 
consin ; Robert J. Mitchell is a lawyer in New York ; 
George B. Newcomb is a Congregational minister in 
Connecticut ; Joseph F. Noble is a Presbyterian 
minister at Brooklyn, New York ; John T. Pingree 
is a lawyer at Auburn, New York ; Andrew Potter 
is a lawyer at Bennington, and was a colonel during 
the war; Arnold G. Potter is a lawyer at North 
Adams, Massachusetts ; Edwin H. Pound is a law- 
yer in Iowa; Nathan B. Robbins was a lawyer, and 
was drowned in 1859 5 Albion T. Rocwkell is a phy- 



no THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

sician in Washington, and has long been in the gov- 
ernment service ; he was a lieutenant-colonel in the 
last war ; Lester C. Rogers is a minister of the Re- 
formed Dutch Church in New Jersey ; Henry Root 
is a physician at Whitehall, New York ; Frank Shep- 
ard is a teacher in Connecticut ; Oren C. Sikes is a 
teacher at Lynn, Massachusetts ; Edward C. Smith 
is a teacher in Philadelphia ; John T. Stoneman is a 
lawyer in Iowa; John Tatlock is a Congregational 
minister at Troy, New York ; Lemuel P. Webber is 
a Presbyterian minister ; Charles Whittier is a Con- 
gregational minister in Maine ; Charles D. Wilbur 
is a Professor of Geology in Illinois ; John H. Wil- 
helm is a Baptist minister ; Samuel Williams is a 
lawyer at St. Albans, Vermont, and Lavalette Wil- 
son is a teacher in New York State. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. Ill 



CHAPTER IX. 

A PREACHER AND PROFESSOR. 

A PREACHER IN THE CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES. — ESTIMATION OF HIS 
ABILITIES AMONG HIS OLD NEIGHBORS. — RISE OF INFIDELITY AT 
CHAGRIN FALLS. — SPIRITUALISM AND CHRISTIANITY. — EXCITING 
PUBLIC DISCUSSION. — PROFESSOR DENTON VS. PROFESSOR GAR- 
FIELD.— HOW THE VICTORY WAS WON. — MR. GARFIELD'S POPU- 
LARITY ASA TEACHER. — TESTIMONY OF STUDENTS. — MARRIAGE 
WITH MISS LUCRETIA RUDOLPH. —HIS SPEECH AT HIRAM. 

On his return home Mr. Garfield was received 
with great joy by all his friends. The founders and 
supporters of Hiram College had already laid their 
plans to engage him sooner or later as a teacher. 
While many of the congregations of the Disciples, to 
whom he had preached, had equally confident hopes 
of securing him for a permanent pastor. It is said 
that he had not definitely marked out a course for 
himself, but told his friends that he should probably 
follow preaching as a profession. With a seeming 
view to that calling, he supplied many pulpits and 
attended many general meetings of his denomina- 
tion. Among the people of the interior towns of 
Ohio it was considered a very great achievement to 
graduate from an Eastern college ; and Mr. Garfield 
was at once received as a man of learning, and his 
ideas on theological questions were accepted by the 



112 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

lay members at least, as the authoritative exposition 
of scriptural truth. 

He had ever been a close reasoner, and an enthu- 
siastic admirer of the Bible from his early academic 
days. In some places he was looked upon with that 
awe and respect with which they might receive a 
prophet. In fact, it is seldom the lot of any man, in 
Church or State, to receive such devoted and loving 
expressions as those which were given to Mr. Gar- 
field throughout his ministerial work. 

An incident, illustrating both his ready wit, and 
ability to cope with difficult questions in science, 
philosophy and religion, and the respect in which he 
was held by his denomination, occurred at Chagrin 
Falls, near his old home. 

Professor Denton, somewhat noted for his adher- 
ence to spiritualism, gave a series of lectures at 
Chagrin Falls, and attempted to prove by scientific 
discoveries that the Bible could not be true. 

In the course of his discussion he had been able to 
convince quite a number of people, and it began to 
be boldly asserted, on the streets and in the facto- 
ries, that the Bible was only an ingenious fable. 

Professor Denton was a critical scholar and had a 
very plausible way of stating his theories ; and there 
was no one found to withstand his arguments. Min- 
isters attacked him, but only with invectives, which 
did more harm than good. Teachers and public 
speakers often ridiculed him, but such things only 
avail against a shallow reasoner, or one manifestly 
unpopular. Professor Denton was gaining the think- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. II3 

ing men and women, and felt sure, as his adherents 
boasted " of shutting up the churches and abolishing 
the Bible from Chagrin Falls." It was one of those 
strange, almost unaccountable freaks of public opin- 
ion, and men were drawn into it who, all their lives, 
had been the most orthodox believers in the Holy 
Bible, 

The Churches of the Disciples viewed the success 
of Professor Denton with the deepest dismay. The 
church at Chagrin Falls seemed in danger of anni- 
hilation, and the whole denomination viewed its tot- 
tering condition with great alarm. It happened that 
the noted professor had one weak point illustrating 
the truth of that Book he was endeavoring to over- 
turn, wherein it says that ''great men are not always 
wise." He had a habit of boasting ; and one even- 
ing he went so far as to challenge any and every 
believer of the Bible in Ohio to refute his statements. 
He offered the use of the hall and ample time to any 
person who dared to undertake the task. 

At once, the listeners who adhered to the Bible 
thought of Mr. Garfield. They had heard him 
preach at Chagrin Falls and in the surrounding 
country towns, and they felt that if any man could 
cope with the learned professor, it would be he. 
They felt that some one must champion their cause 
or all would be lost. In a distress of mind not easily 
realized by people living in other portions of the 
religious world, these sincere and sorrowful Chris- 
tians turned toward Mr. Garfield for help. At first 
he dechned to meet the professor, thinking it unbe- 



114 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

coming a Christian man to debate such questions 
in a public hall. But the continued petition of his 
friends and the alarm of the churches, caused him at 
last to consent, and a committee of citizens was 
appointed to arrange for the public discussion. 

It was a great day at Chagrin Falls, and one which 
will not soon be forgotten, when these two cham- 
pions met in the arena of serious, earnest, religious 
debate. Mr. Garfield had never heard Professor 
Denton and was consequently supposed to be igno- 
rant of just the position which the professor would 
take. 

But Mr. Garfield had been too wise to risk a cause 
which he believed so holy, to the impulses and 
guesses of an impromptu speech ; and, as soon as 
he knew that he was to meet the professor, he had 
taken steps to find out the arguments which the infi- 
del used. Having ascertained privately that the pro- 
fessor was to lecture on the same topic in a distant 
part of the State before the date of the discussion, 
Mr. Garfield had sent a friend to hear these lectures, 
and write them out for his use. 

Of course the professor knew nothing of this, and 
had no doubt of his ability to silence a man who had 
not made science a special study. When, however* 
Mr. Garfield had received the copies of the lectures, , 
he had at once sent in various directions and procured 
the latest scientific books, together with those the 
professor had quoted as being against the Bible. He 
had also obtained learned opinions of distinguished 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. II5 

scholars, and, before the day of the discussion, was 
thoroughly armed with arguments and authorities. 

When the hour came for the discussion, the hall 
was crowded to suffocation by an eager, and on the 
part of the Disciple^, an almost breathless audience. 
But they did not lose faith in Mr. Garfield. They 
ithought that if any one could overcome the learned 
professor, then they had secured the right man. 

The professor, amid the smiles of his followers and 
jwith a perfect confidence in his ability, opened the 
debate with his statements of scientific facts and 
Itheir bearing on the accounts of creation and the 
jmiracles in the Bible. The professor did not try to 
be precise and accurate in all his statements, for he 
Ivas sure that Mr. Garfield would not attack him on 
Scientific ground, and, when he stated any difficult 
l^uestion, he explained it very kindly in " simple lan- 
l^uage" for Mr. Garfield's better understanding. He 
repeated, however, almost verbatim, the lecture of 
which Mr. Garfield had a copy. 

I Mr. Garfield said nothing until his turn came, and, 
|»vhen he arose, it was apparent to all that the pro- 
fessor had predisposed the audience in favor of infi- 
lielity. 

When, however, Mr. Garfield coolly and with a 
eadiness and knowledge which really astounded his 
learers, took up the professor's arguments, one by 
|)ne, and, quoting voluminously from books and his- 
tory, using the professor's own authorities against 
lim and piling up unanswerable names above them, 
:;here was such a sudden overturning as an earth- 



Il6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

quake might make. It seemed miraculous to the 
people, who very reasonably supposed that Mr. Gar-j 
field had not heard the professor's arguments before. 

The professor had the closing speech to make, 
but he saw that he had lost the battle and that his 
forces were too thoroughly routed to be rallied 
again. So, while he claimed that with further 
research he could yet establish his theories, he man- 
fully admitted that he was surprised and defeated for 
the time, by the apparently inexhaustible learning of 
his opponent. He said it was the first time he had 
met so gifted and learned an adversary. Of course 
the tide of unbelief in the Scriptures was stayed, and 
from that day to this, the community has not been 
again alarmed or disturbed by the popularity of anv 
anti-scriptural lectures. 

Mr. Garfield's return from college was in 1856: 
and from that time until 1861 he occupied the socia 
position in the community, of a minister of the gos 
pel, preaching nearly every Sunday, and delivering' 
addresses at conferences and yearly meetings of thfi 
church. 

The school at Hiram in which he was appointee 
a professor upon his return from college, was, as ha: 
already been stated, a denominational institution 
and his position as a teacher in a school, a part 
the purposes of which was to educate young me]l 
for the ministry, was a semi-pastoral one, and con! 
nected him closely with church work. 

A year after his engagement as a teacher, Prc| 
fessor A. S. Hayden, the principal, resigned, an 






OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 11/ 

Mr. Garfield was immediately elected to fill that 
important post. 

I Of Mr. Garfield's three years of labor as a princi- 
pal of the school at Hiram, hundreds of students 
$peak in terms of almost extravagant praise. He 
3eems to have been loved as a father is loved, and 
the affection of his scholars was returned in large- 
hearted measure by him. He was remarkably suc- 
!:essful in building up the school and in placing it on 
ia footing where its transformation into a college was 
oossible. He took an interest in the welfare of each 
^>tudent and stood on terms of familiar yet dignified 

f.cquaintance with them all. He taught them how 
o study. He played with them on the green. 
An illustration of the character which has since 
jnade him famous is seen in an incident during his 
:areer as principal. His complete control of the 
;chool was the result of firmness and kindness. In 
he school-room he was obeyed with alacrity ; on 
he play ground he was a kind playmate. One day, 
vhen he took his place in a game of ball, he chanced 

see some small boys in a fence corner, close by, 
ooking wistfully on. He said to the players : 

'Are these boys not in the game .?" 

1 '* Those little tads ? Of course not. They'd spoil 
jhe game." 

" But," said the principal, '' they want to play just 
s much as we do. Let them come in." 

" No," was the answer again, ''it's no use to spoil 
he game ; they can't play." 



Il8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND 'PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Well," said he, laying down his bat, '* if they 
can't play I won't." 

''Well, well, let them come in," was the answer, 
and his kind heart had won the victory. 

He lived in simple style as a boarder saving his 
money to repay his uncle, which, however, was soon 
accomplished. Frank, cheerful, honest and truth- 
ful, he was honored by every one, and it is said with 
every appearance of truth that, in 1859, he had not 
an enemy in the world. 

It was in 1858, during his successful administration 
of the institute at Hiram, that he married Miss 
Lucretia Rudolph, of that place. She had been his 
class-mate at Chester, ten years before, had attended! 
the school at Hiram with him, and they had through' 
the whole decade sustained a familiar acquaintance. 
She was then, as now, a most remarkably sweet| 
woman. She belonged to a most excellent family. 
Her mother was the daughter of Elijah Mason ol 
Lebanon, Connecticut, and a descendant, on hei 
mother's side, of General Nathaniel Green. Mr 
Zeb Rudolph, the father of Mrs. Garfield, was a pros 
perous farmer at Garrettsville, at the time the insti 
tute at Hiram was established, and he was one of thi 
most influential of its founders. He still lives ii 
Hiram, his wife, Mrs. Garfield's mother, having die( 
in 1879. 

After his marriage he continued to board in ; 
very plain style, his wife being one of those nota 
ble young women whose pretty face and socia 
position in no way interfered with her common sens 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 19 

and her willingness to make her life conform to 
their financial circumstances. A kind Providence, 
which for his good had often left him to hardships 
and toil, most signally blessed his life through his 
mother and his wife. Both women had a great in- 
fluence upon his later life. His wife, in her modesty, 
industry, economy and intellectual keenness, was a 

I treasure of incalculable value to him in every walk 

! of life, and on the day of their marriage the line can 
safely be drawn in his history, between the old, 

i rough, self sacrificing struggle with adversity, and 
the new era of joy, prosperity and fame. - 

She was no less a favorite with the students than 
Mr. Garfield himself, and having been a teacher in 
the Cleveland schools, she understood well her hus- 
band's trials and needs. Many students came to 

i them both for advice and help; and as one of the 
graduates afterwards wrote for publication : '' There 
are men and women scattered over the United States 
holding positions of honor and wealth, who began 
the life which led them upward, by the advice and 
with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Garfield." Cer- 
tainly it is no over-stated tribute when we say that 
the active, generous and pure life they led for two 
years at Hiram, was a blessing to the world through 
the influence of the students whose habits and 
ambitions were shaped by them. 

In a speech delivered at Hiram years afterwards, 
Mr. Garfield thus spoke of his connection with the 
institution : 

I said that there were two chapters in the history 



120 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

of this institution. You have heard the one relating 
to the founders. They were all pioneers of this 
Western Reserve, or nearly all ; they were all men 
of knowledge and great force of character ; nearly all 
not men of means, but they planted this little insti- 
tution. In 1850 it was a cornfield, with a solid, 
plain brick building in the center of it, and that was 
all. Almost all the rest has been done by the insti- 
tution itself That is the second chapter. Without 
a dollar of endowment, without a powerful friend 
anywhere, but with a corps of teachers, who were 
told to go on the ground and see what they could 
make out of it, to find their own pay out of the little 
tuition that they could receive. They invited stu- 
dents of their own spirit to come here on the ground 
and find out what they could make out of it, and the 
response has been that many have come, and the 
chief part of the respondents I see in the faces around 
and before me to-day. It was a simple question of 
sinking or swimming for themselves. And I know 
that we are all inclined to be a little clannish over 
our own. We have, perhaps, a right to be ; but I 
do not know of any place, I do not know of any 1 
institution, that has accomplished more with so little i 
means as has this school on Hiram Hill. I know , 
of no place where the doctrine of self-help has a fuller j 
development, by necessity as well ns finally by 
choice, as here on this hill. The doctrine of self-help 
and of force has the chief place among these men 
and women around here. As I said a great many 
years ago about that, the act of Hiram was to throw 
its young men and women overboard and let them 
try it for themselves, and all those men able to 
get ashore got ashore, and I think we have few 
cases of drowning anywhere. 

Now, I look over these faces and I mark the 
several geological changes remarked by Mr. Atwater 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 121 

SO well in his address, but in the few cases of change 
of geological fact, there is, 1 find, no fossil. Some are 
dead and glorified in our memories, but those who 
are not, are alive — I think all 

The teachers and the students of this school built 
it up in every sense. They made the cornfield into 
Hiram Campus. Those fine groves you see across 
the road, they planted. I well remember the day 
when they turned out into the woods to find beauti- 
ful maples and brought them in ; when they raised a 
little purse to purchase evergreeri ; when each young 
man, for. himself one, and perhaps a second for some 
young lady, if he was in love, planted two trees on 
the campus, and then named them after himself. 
There are several here to-day who remember Bowler. 
Bowler planted there a tree, and Bowler has planted 
a tree that has a luster — Bowler was shot through 
the heart at Cedar Mountain. 

There are m.any here that can go and find the trees 
that you named after yourselves. They are great 
strong trees to-day, and your names, like your trees 
are, I hope, growing still. 

I believe, outsideof or beyond the physical features 
of the place, that there was a stronger pressure of 
work to the square inch in the boilers that run this 
establishment than any other that I know of ; and, as 
has been so well said, that has told all the while with 
these young men and women. The struggle, when- 
ever the uncouth and untutored farmer boys — far- 
mers of course — that came here to try themselves 
and find what kind of people they were. They came 
here to go on a voyage of discovery. Your discovery 
was yourselves, in many cases. I hope the discovery 
was a fortune, and the friendships then formed out of 
that have bound this group of people longer and 
farther than most any other I have known in life. 
They are scattered all over the United States in 



122 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

every field of activity, and if I had time to name them 
the sun would go down before I had finished. 

I believe the rules of this institution limit us to 
time— I think it is said, five minutes. I may have 
overgone it already. We have so many already that 
we want to hear from, we will all volunteer. We 
expect now to wrestle a while with the work before 
us. Some of these boys remember the time when I 
had an exercise that I remember with pleasure. I 
called a young lad out in class and said, in two min- 
utes you are to speak to the best of your ability on the 
following subject, (naming it) and gave subject and 
let him wrestle with it. It was a trying theory, and 
I believe that wrestling was a good thing. I will 
not vary the performance save in this. I will call 
you and restrict you to five minutes, and let you 
select your theme about the old days of Hiram. 

In another speech on the same subject he said: 

It always has given me pleasure to come here and 

look upon these faces. It has always given me new 

courage and new friends. It has brought back a 

large share of that richness that belongs to those 

things out of which come the joys of life. While I 

have been sitting here this afternoon, watching your 

faces and listening to the very interesting address 

just delivered, it occurred to me that the best thing 

you have that all men envy — I mean all men who 

have reached the meridian of life — is, perhaps, the 

thing you care for least, and that is your leisure. 

The leisure you have to think in, the leisure you 

have to be let alone, the leisure you have to throw 

the plummet with your hands and sound the depths 

and find what is below, the leisure you have to walk 

about the towers of yourselves, and find how strong 

they are or how weak they are, and determine what 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 23 

needs building up, and determine how to shape them 
that you may be made the final being that you are 
to be. Oh, these hours of building ! If the superior 
Being of the universe would look down upon the 
world to find the most interesting object, it would be 
the unfinished and unformed character of young 
men, and of young women. Those behind me have, 
probably, in the main settled such questions. Those 
who have passed middle manhood and middle wom- 
anhood are about what they shall always be, and 
there is little left of interest or curiosity as to our 
development ; but to your young, unformed natures, 
no man knows the possibilities that lie treasured up 
in your hearts and intellects. While you are work- 
ing up those possibilities with that splendid leisure, 
you are the most envied of all classes of men and 
women in the world. I congratulate you on your 
leisure. I commend you to keep it as your gold, as 
your wealth, as your means, out of which you can 
demand all possible treasures that God laid down 
when he formed your nature, and unveiled and de- 
veloped the possibility of your future. This place is 
too full of memories for me to trust myself to speak 
more, and I will not ; but I draw again to-day, as I 
have for a quarter of a century, evidences of strength 
and affection from the people who gather in this 
place, and I thank you for the permission to see you 
and meet you and greet you as I have done to-day. 



124 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER X. 

POLITICIAN AND LAWYEP 

POLITICAL SYMPATHIES. — HOPE OF MAKING THF 1.^57 A PROFESSION. — 
ENTERS HIS NAME AS A STUDENT. —YEARS OF HARD STUDY.— 
PROFITABLE USE OF ALL HIS TIME.— HIS LEGAL RESEARCH, — IN- 
TEREST IN LOCAL POLITICS. — THE STUMP-SPEAKER'S CHALLENGE. 
— rmST SPEECH. —NOMINATION FOR THE STATE SENATE. — IN THE 
SERVICE OF THE STATE. — LEAVING THE GOSPEL FOR POLITICS. - 
MRS. GARFIELD'S LOVE OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 

After Mr. Garfield's graduation from college, he 
found more time to interest himself in the current 
affairs of his time. Although his sympathies were 
with the Republican party, at its birth, yet he had 
been too much engaged in the arduous task of SQcn^- 
ing an education to give much attention to politics. 
But when he did have time to read and ponder upon 
national questions, he began to be a vigorous and 
persistent opponent of slavery, and often expressed 
his regret that Fremont and Dayton were not elected. 
Day by day, his interest in public affairs increased, 
until he began to feel a great indignation at the con- 
duct of the Buchanan administration. . 

He also took a keen interest in local politics, and 
watched with anxiety the measures which were be- 
fore the legislature of Ohio. This patriotic interest 
in the welfare of his State and nation naturally led 
his mind toward the laws which governed the coun- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 25 

try, and the methods of making them. He was 
never satisfied with a superficial knowledge of any- 
thing in which he had an interest, and without any 
definite purpose, beyond a determination to under- 
stand the matter, he began to read such law books as 
he could readily borrow. Soon, however, he inclined 
to the hope of making the law his profession, and 
began a regular course of systematic and earnest 
study. 

Soon after he was married, he entered his name, in 
the law office of Riddle & Williamson, attorneys, in 
Cleveland, Ohio, as a student of law. This he was 
required to do by the law, if he intended to be ad- 
mitted to the bar. He did not, however, study in 
the office at all, and his purpose to become an attor- 
ney was kept a secret from all his relatives. 

His ability to pursue hard study, day after day, 
served him well in his legal researches, for he kept 
evenly on with his teaching all the while, and was 
not absent from his work, or from the evening exer- 
cises connected with the institute, during the term. 

He had formed a habit of studying at odd times 
and places, filling the entire day with some profitable 
occupation or healthy sport. It would astonish the 
great portion of mankind to reckon up the number of 
hours in a year which they lose, in waiting, traveling, 
or useless conversation. Thousands of men and 
women might have acquired a mastery of law, medi- 
cine, science, or theology, in the odd hours which 
they have thoughtlessly wasted. The busiest busi- 
ness life has its hours of waiting and delay, which 



126 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

could be profitably applied to acquiring knowledge 
from books. Mr. Garfield's life clearly demonstrates 
this statement. He acquired a habit, which may 
have been contracted under the influence of his 
mother's early example, of having a profitable book 
at hand for use, when his usual occupation was sus- 
pended or finished. In that way he prosecuted his 
legal studies ; and that industry, with his natural de- 
sire to be thorough, as far as he went, gave him a 
great advantage over young men of looser habits. 

It is well known to attorneys how difficult it is for 
a young man to comprehend legal terms and expres- 
sions, without an actual contact with the practice, 
in the office and in the courts. It requires much 
more study on the part of any person to obtain an 
understanding of law away from the practice, while 
the number is very limited who would succeed in ob- 
taining any useful understanding of it. 

The success of Mr. Garfield, therefore, as we shall 
see, was something so unusual and astonishing that 
it may be regarded as the greatest intellectual 
achievement of his life. He understood the laws of 
his State and of the nation so well that, when he 
was admitted to the bar, he was capable of stepping 
from his httle country home into the courts, of any 
grade, and trying the most difficult cases. 

So improbable will this seem to attorneys, whose 
years of study and practice have left them none too 
well-furnished with legal acumen, that it would not 
be stated here, did not the most trustworthy of our 
law reports fully corroborate it. 



• OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 12/ 

During all this critical study of the most dry 
and difficult of all subjects, he neglected not his 
preaching, his public addresses, his private corres- 
pondence, or his family. It was all accomplished by 
the careful use of all his time. 

His interest in political matters, however, did not 
lead him to take any public part in the campaigns, 
and his appearance in the political field was sudden 
and unexpected, both to the people and to him. 

The story of his first political speech, and of his 
first nomination, have embodied themselves in the 
traditions of the neighborhood, and have thus been 
preserved for the historian. 

A Democratic speaker, of considerable ability and 
notoriety, published a challenge for a political debate 
which any person in Portage county was at liberty 
to accept. In Ohio, they often used to engage in 
political disputes, with the different parties repre- 
sented by speakers, in the same evening. Such was 
to be the proposed debate. The Republicans, who 
had heard Mr. Garfield speak on some minor politi- 
cal occasion, endeavored to persuade him to accept 
the challenge, and more to satisfy the urgent de- 
mands of his circle of acquaintances than for any 
other object, he consented to do so, and set the time. 
He had no such advantage of his opponent in this 
debate as that which he so shrewdly secured over 
Professor Denton, and had to rely more on the suc- 
cess of an independent speech, than on any hope of 
answering the precise arguments which his opponent 
might put forth. He seems to have approached that 



128 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

contest with many misgivings. He could preach a 
sermon worthy to be published, and that on a short 
notice ; but a political stump speech was a much 
more difficult matter to him. His opponent had 
been in many campaigns, and had all the defects 
and short-comings of the new Republican party by 
heart. 

The hall was again crowded, but there was not 
much confidence expressed in the success of Mr. 
Garfield, and some of the Republicans regretted, as 
did Mr. Garfield, that they had not selected some 
one else. 

But his opponent was over-confident, and conse- 
quently said some things which he was sure this 
young debater could know nothing about, but which 
he stated in a way and with constructions to suit 
himself. Of course, where a disputant is allowed to 
manufacture his facts, and to base his arguments 
upon them undisturbed, he is certain of victory. 

Near the close of his speech, which was able and 
convincing, the old politician read an extract from 
the Congressional Globe, giving the official report of 
some Abolitionist's speech, and it did put the Abo- 
litionist in Congress, and his party, before that audi- 
ence, in a very bad light. After reading the extract, 
with great show of indignant disapproval, the excited 
speaker threw the paper furiously down upon the 
platform near him, and within Mr. Garfield's easy 
reach. The latter had never before seen the official 
reports of congressional debates, and with a feeling 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 29 

of despair he took up the paper and glanced along 
its columns, with no purpose but that of curiosity. 

He carelessly looked down the column from which 
the speaker had quoted, wondering all the while 
how any man in Congress could make such absurd 
remarks, when he noticed the name of a Democrat 
in the column. On looking closer the name of the 
Republican did not appear at all in that column, and 
the unprincipled politician had been quoting a Dem- 
cratic speech, and claiming it to be the official report 
of the Republican's words. Mr. Garfield placed the 
paper securely in his pocket, and, when his turn came 
to speak, arose and addressed the audience calmly 
and clearly, giving his views of the heinousness of 
slavery and the right inherent in every man to life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When he came 
to his opponent's arguments, he denied in toto all 
the statements of the first speaker to the great aston- 
ishment of the audience. Mr. Garfield said : 

*' So absurd and untrue are they that I need not 
spend your time and mine in discussing them. I 
will, however, say this much, that I thank him for 
saving me the trouble of criticizing the speech he 
has read from the Co7igressio7ial Globe, for its fool- 
ishness, absurdity and unpatriotic sentiments deserve 
unqualified condemnation. The party, too, which 
would support such a man for office, or would endorse 
such sentiments should be crushed out of existence. 
But the difference between the previous speaker and 
myself is one of fact to be determined by you. He 
says it was a speech made by a Republican. I claim 
9 



I30 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

it was a speech made by a Democrat. Here is the 
same paper. Here is the name of the speaker. 
This is the speech. Any one doubting my word 
will be kind enough to come to the platform and read 
for himself." 

There was a shout of laughter, then cheers, and 
the ''young preacher" bore off the honors of the 
occasion. 

His nomination for the State Senate came about 
without the slightest effort on his part and against 
his expectations. The senatorial district in which 
he resided in 1859 was composed of two counties, 
viz : Summit and Portage. In that year by the sys- 
tem of rotation adopted by the party. Portage county 
had the right to name the candidate of the conven- 
tion. A friend of Mr. Garfield's who was dissatisfied 
with the persons whose names were mentioned as 
the probable candidates, was elected a delegate. 
He thought of Mr. Garfield, and believed that the 
presentation of his name at the right time might 
secure success. But when the caucus met it was 
found that so many delegates had been pledged 
beforehand, that Mr. Garfield's name was not received 
with the acclaim his friend expected. Yet the first 
ballot, while there was no choice, showed that he had 
a strong support. The difficulty was that the poli- 
ticians did not know him. His opponents also added 
that he was too young. The young professor was a 
delegate to the convention, but hardly knew what 
all the whispering and private discussion were about. 
After several ballots in which there was no choice, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I3I 

it became evident that on the next Mr. Garfield 
would be nominated. Whereupon the opposition 
determined to " bolt " and left the hall with boister- 
ous demonstrations of displeasure. Mr. Garfield was 
nominated unanimously by those who remained; 
and, on presentation of his name to the joint conven- 
tion, he was chosen as the candidate of the district, 
with but little opposition. He was elected by a 
sweeping majority and took his seat in the State 
Senate of the following Legislature — its youngest 
member. 

His acceptance of the nomination and election was 
regarded quite unfavorably by many members of his 
denomination. Those who were his political oppo- 
nents were especially loud in their expressions of 
disapproval. To the defeated ones there seemed to 
be an awful inconsistency in his conduct as a '* Chris- 
tian minister." How could a good man belong to 
any party but the one with which they affilliated ? 

Even his political friends and oJd neighbors could 
not avoid saying that "it was a sad day for 'the 
cause' when Mr. Garfield gave up the gospel for 
politics." Of course they knew nothing of his pur- 
pose to become a lawyer, and they had yet to learn, 
as he soon taught them, that a sincere, generous 
Christian may be a very successful and noble poli- 
tician. Yet, there remain a few old and stubborn 
church members of his sect who felt his loss when 
he practically retired from the ministry, as they 
would have felt the loss of an inspired prophet, and 
cannot be reconciled to the idea that their great 



132 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

champion orator, and leader, should '' descend so 
low," as to be a statesman. 

To him the election was a piece of good fortune. 
It added something to the amount of his limited 
income, and it gave him a most valuable and agree- 
able acquaintance with the public men of Ohio. It 
gave him an opportunity to study in the law libra- 
ries of Columbus and gave him a deeper sense of 
the importance of legal studies. It gave him an 
opportunity to make practical use of the learning 
which had ad so assiduously accumulated. He was 
a decided enemy of slavery and made several most 
telling hits when a question of national jurisdiction 
over slaves, as property, incidentally arose. He was 
not distinguished however, so much for his speeches, 
as for his persevering hard work in the preparation 
of bills, reports and orders. "He had a genius for 
hard work," and physical constitution able to support 
it, for which he was much indebted to his severe 
hardships and toil when a boy. 

He did not resign his position as principal of the 
Hiram school, nor did they secure a permanent 
teacher of Latin and Greek to take his place as a 
professor, for, neither he nor the managers of the 
school expected that he would continue in public 
life. His wife with her natural aversion to publicity 
and display, was quite anxious that he should return 
to his teaching, to his study of languages with her, 
and to the holy quiet and rest of their first years of 
married life. No honors, nor titles, nor wealth 
would have induced her to give up their simple and 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 133 

happy domestic life in Hiram. Nothing but some 
great duty, some imperative call to help the weak or 
free the enslaved was worth considering in the ques- 
tion of exchanging their simple life for one of excite- 
ment or parade. 

But the home life so sweet and dear to them both 
was broken then, never again to be renewed in its 
holy retirement. A great duty called him ; the 
weak and enslaved asked for help, and he promptly 
and cheerfully responded. 



134 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER XL 

THE EVENTFUL YEAR OF 1861. 

ADMISSION TO THE BMl. — WITHDRAWS FROM MINISTERIAL WORK. — 
OPPOSITION" TO SLAVERY. —LEADERSHIP IN THE STATE SENATE.— 
THE governor's ASSISTANT. — PROVIDING FOR THE TROOPS. — THE 
REGIMENT OF HIRAM STUDENTS. — DEPLETION OF THE CLASSES. — 
APPOINTMENT AS LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. — PROMOTION. — DEPAR- 
TURE FOR THE FIELD. — CONSULTATION WITH GENERAL BUEL. — 
PLAN OF A CAMPAIGN. — MARCH AGAINST MARSHALL. — BATTLE OF 
PRESTONBURG. — THE ACCOUNT OF F. H. MASON. — PROMOTION. 

The eventful year of 1861 found Mr. Garfield, at 
its opening, ready to enter upon the practice of law, 
so far as a knowledge of its principles was concerned. 
But the announcement of his admission to the bar, 
at Cleveland, was a surprise to nearly all his acquaint- 
ances, and completely dashed the hopes of the anx- 
ious members of his denomination, who were hoping 
and praying for his active entry into the profession 
of the ministry. Occasionally he took a part in the 
services, on special occasions, such as Sabbath-school 
conventions, yearly meetings of the churches, or at 
dedications ; but thinking that the belief, so prevalent 
then, that politics and religion were at variance, 
would injure his influence for good, he wisely with- 
drew from any active participation as a preacher or 
teacher in church services. He did not enter the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 35 

practice of law at once after his admission to the bar, 
as he was actively engaged in the State Senate ; and 
it appears that he was hesitating between opening 
an office in Cleveland and remaining as a teacher at 
Hiram, when the war broke out. 

His studies and public duties had called his atten- 
tion so much to the institutions of the nation, and 
his natural disposition was so inclined toward a sym- 




STATE CAPITOL OF OHIO. 



pathy with the oppressed, that his heart was fired 
with an almost uncontrollable patriotic fervor, at the 
first news of the purposed rebellion. 

As early as January, 1861, he stood up in his place 
in the Ohio Senate and declared it to be his unalter- 
able determination to oppose the institution of slav- 
ery, or any compromise with it. It was a heinous 
national sin, and he would not condescend to negoti- 



136 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ate with it. Senators Monroe and Cox stood with 
him then, and later, Senators Morse, Glass, Buck, 
Parish and Smith voted with him. When the con- 
stitutional amendment was submitted to the Ohio Le- 
gislature, which would guarantee to the slave States 
the perpetuity of slavery, he led the uncompromising 
minority, and with a remarkable display of ability, 
opposed, with pointed speeches and his vote, every 
measure or resolution which could be construed into 
a concession to the party in favor of human bondage. 
He was in earnest. He had a ready command of 
language. He knew the laws and their purpose. 
He had been bred to hate every form of meanness, 
unkindness, and oppression. Hence, his speeches 
were eloquent, thoughtful, and sincere. He seemed 
to care nothing for popularity, and expected only to 
do his duty while there, and retire with a clear con- 
science to private life, when his term of office should 
close. 

But the earthquake of the rebellion overturned 
many plans, and sent confusion and alarm into every 
household in the nation. While he was yet in the 
Senate, the attack on Fort Sumter, and the battle of 
Bull Run added dismay to the already over-excited 
public mind. Mr. Garfield, from the first, declared 
his intention of going to the war, should it last more 
than the ** ninety days," and the regular militia of the 
State prove insufficient. 

At the adjournment of the Legislature, he offered 
his services to Governor Dennison, to assist him in 
the difficult task of organizing and providing supplies 



I 

i 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 3/ 

for the troops, then flocking toward the camps. In 
the multiplicity of duties, and the incessant annoy- 
ances which perplexed and harassed Governor Den- 
nison, he appears to have overlooked Mr. Garfield's 
abihty and patriotism, and to have repeatedly pro- 
moted to high office, men of much inferior ability, 
because, in some way, they were placed prominently 
before the Governor's attention. Mr. Garfield would 
never ask for an office, and worked diligently on in 
his unofficial relation to the Governor for some 
weeks, going hither and thither for arms, clothing, 
ammunition, and provisions, never appearing to have 
had a thought that, amid all these army promotions 
and profitable stations, he might have secured a val- 
uable office for himself. If a high official position 
had been offered him in the army, he would have re- 
fused it, with his usual excuse that he did not feel 
competent to undertake it. 

But when the news came to the Governor that the 
students of Hiram College, over which Mr. Garfield 
was still the official head, purposed to organize a 
regiment, it at last occurred to him that Mr. Garfield 
could possibly be spared in such an emergency, and 
he asked the latter to recruit and organize it. 

Mr. Garfield would not at first take the office of 
colonel, saying that he should need some military 
training before he could handle a regiment. He 
seems to have forgotten that his less able colleagues 
in the Legislature had taken commissions as briga- 
dier-generals, without the slightest hesitation. So 
he was appointed, August 14, 1861, a lieutenant- 



138 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

colonel, and entered upon the task of organizing his 
command. 

One of the first meetings for raising volunteers 
for his regiment was held at Hiram, and the enthusi- 
asm was intense. The institution was almost wholly 
depleted of its male students by the spontaneous 
enlistment of the scholars. Graduates of the school 
came from distant counties, and even from other 
States, moved by the popularity of Mr. Garfield, and 
the great enthusiasm of that early period of the war. 
Although the regiment was filled almost immedi- 
ately, there were many delays, caused by the diffi- 
culty of securing arms and uniforms, and it did not 
leave for the South until September 14th. Mean- 
time, the pressure upon the Governor, on the part of 
the regiment and its friends, for the promotion of 
Mr. Garfield to the head of the regiment, was so 
unanimous and persistent that both the Governor 
and Mr. Garfield were compelled to submit to the 
demand. 

September i8th, Colonel Garfield's regiment, the 
42d Ohio, arrived at Cattletsburg, Kentucky, which 
is close to the border of both Ohio and Virginia, the 
two rivers at the junction of which it was situated 
being the boundaries of the three States. Colonel 
Garfield was ordered to report, in person, to General 
Buel, at Louisville. 

General Buel was a native of Ohio, as were also 
Generals Grant, Sherman, McPherson, Sheridan, 
McClellan, Rosecrans, Mitchel, Gilmore, McDowell; 
Schenck, Custer, Hazen, Cox, Steadman, Weitzel, 



i 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 39 

Stanley, Crook, Swain, McCook, and Leggett, surely 
a most astounding leadership to be obtained so 
honorably by a single State. General Buel was not 
ignorant of Colonel Garfield's ability, nor of his pop- 
ularity in Ohio, and hoped to find in the new colonel 
a vigorous supporter. The campaign in West Vir- 
ginia had succeeded passably well, and General Buel 
hoped to be able to be equally successful in clearing 
Kentucky of the rebels, and of capturing Nashville. 
The general was a rather harsh disciplinarian, and 
did many foolish things with his raw troops. His 
ideas of military discipline were better adapted to a 
military empire, or an established and unlimited 
monarchy, than to the assemblies of free men, who 
were fighting for themselves, and not for a king. 
However, he was earnest, patriotic, and brave, and 
recognizing those qualities in Colonel Garfield, he at 
once confided to him the plan of the Kentucky cam- 
paign. Colonel Garfield did not pretend to be a 
military strategist, but when he looked over the map 
with General Buel, and heard how many rebel forces 
were in Eastern Kentucky, and how many in Western 
Kentucky, he thought it was folly to attempt to 
march through the center of the State to Nashville, 
with such forces on both flanks. The general 
thought that some movement ought to be made at 
once, and if the colonel had any doubts about the 
proposed plan it would be well to think the matter 
•; over and consult again about it the next day. 
, The following morning Colonel Garfield brought 
' in a draft of his plan, which was to move into the 



140 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

State in three columns, leaving no forces behind 
them, and if either column defeated its opponent, it 
could readily unite with the center and move on to 
Nashville. After some discussion, and after the 
general had asked the colonel if he would undertake 
the direction of the eastern column, the plan sub- 
mitted was adopted so far as it could be without the 
co-operation of General Halleck's command in Mis- 
souri. The general plan was, however, somewhat 
modified by Zollicoffers entrance into Kentucky at 
Cumberland Gap with a rebel army to co-operate 
with General Humphrey Marshall, who was already 
in Kentucky near Pound Gap. But General George 
H. Thomas was sent to drive back Zollicoffer, and 
Colonel Garfield's orders to attack Humphrey Mar- 
shall were not changed. 

Thus we find him with a most important campaign 
on his hands before he had any useful experience in 
drilling a regiment in the manual of arms. The pur- 
posed movement was one of such importance, in view 
of the necessity of keeping Marshall from moving to 
Zollicoffers aid and striking General Thomas's forces 
on the flank, that it is a little surprising that General 
Buel with his ideas of military manoeuvers, should 
have intrusted it to a commander so fresh from civil 
life. Colonel Garfield had never seen a skirmish nor 
heard the crack of a single hostile rifle. It therefore 
seemed somewhat inconsistent with Colonel Garfield's 
well known character to assume the direction of so 
important a miHtary movement. It seems probable 
that he did not know just how important it was, nor 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I4I 

appreciate how eagerly the whole field was being 
watched by President Lincoln and the authorities at 
Washington for some signs of ultimate victory. It 
was one of the gloomiest periods of the war; and 
when the news of the selection of Colonel Garfield 
for the expedition up the Big Sandy river to meet 
Marshall was announced to Mr. Lincoln, he sought 
Secretary Stanton, who was also a native of Ohio, 
and asked who the man was they were sending 
-'into such dangerously close quarters." The Presi- 
dent anxiously awaited General Buel's forward 
movement toward Bowling Green and Nashville ; 
and seeing how important the defeat of the rebel's 
flank movements under Marshall and ZoUicoffer had 
become, he followed the movements of Colonel Gar- 
field and General Thomas with the deepest interest. 

Colonel Garfield's orders to proceed up the Sandy 
\^alley were delivered to him December 13th or 14th. 
A few days later, he collected the forces entrusted to 
him at the mouth of the Big Sandy river, and began 
his march up the valley. His command, which was 
called a brigade, did not number over twenty-three 
hundred available men, and consisted of the Fortieth 
and Forty-Second Ohio infantry, the Fourteenth and 
Twenty-Second Kentucky infantry, and eight com- 
panies of cavalry. To these he hoped to add a small 
force then stationed at Paris, and to which he sent 
orders directing its commander to join him near 
Paintville. 

General Marshall had a force of five thousand men, 
and was in a country with which he was familiar, 



142 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

while Colonel Garfield was in a strange region with 
about one-half that number of troops. If there had 
been any hesitation or delay on the part of the 
union forces it would have encouraged Marshall to 
attack them on their march, for the rebel general 
was among his friends, and all the people acted as 
spies and couriers in communicating the advance 
and condition of the invading forces. But so deter- 
minedly and steadily did the troops march on, that it 
seem to have created a fear of them in advance which 
went far toward giving them the victory when the 
battle came. 

All the information which Garfield could gain 
seemed to locate Marshall near Paintville, and hence, 
he expected a contest at that point. But Marshall 
retreated to Prestonburg before Garfield arrived, but 
left a company of cavalry to hold the place and delay 
the union troops. Garfield finding the enemy, and 
supposing that the rebel army was immediately in 
front, notwithstanding the fatigue of his troops, 
moved immediately forward to attack them. 

Directing his cavalry to engage the enemy in 
front, Garfield made a circuit with his infantry, hop- 
ing to reach Marshall's rear. 

It is said that when he had given his orders to 
the cavalry, and had started forward on foot with the 
infantry, he took off his coat and threw it into a tree, 
and shouted back to the horsemen so soon to charge, 
" Give 'em Hail Columbia, boys ! " 

But before his troops reached the road in the 
rear, the vigorous charge of the union cavalry had 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I43 

sent the enemy flying toward Prestonburg in such 
haste as to leave their canteens, haversacks, blankets 
and dead bodies strewing the highway. 

This retreat was quite unexpected to General Gar- 
field, and he had so confidently counted upon a bat- 
tle at that point, that his brigade was not supplied 
with provisions for a march further into the interior. 
To supply the necessary provisions caused a day's 
delay, and compelled him to leave a portion of his 
troops at Paintville while, he pressed on after Mar- 
shall. At Paintville, however, he was joined by the 
troops from Paris, numbering about one thousand or 
twelve hundred. 

On the following day, which was the 9th of Jan- 
uary, Garfield followed Marshall to Prestonburg and 
found that the rebels were posted on a hill in a 
most advantageous position with their artillery in a 
most effective range. Garfield had been misinformed 
about Marshall's movements and was compelled to 
ascertain the enemy's position by skirmishing and 
feints. While awaiting the troops, which he decided 
to order up from Paintville, his troops were constantly 
engaged in skirmishing, and the whole command 
was under fire, many of the men for the first time. 

It must have given a much more serious appear- 
ance to the art of war, to see the line of gray, and 
hear the shot and shell shriek over their heads. To 
the colonel, on whose word and judgment hung the 
lives of so many and, perhaps, the fate of a mighty 
' nation, the feeling of responsibility must have been 
great, while the peculiar sense of danger and dread 



144 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERiVICES 

of the unforeseen which fills the heart at the opening 
of the first battle, must have been a trial in his inex- 
perience. 

It was nearly dark when the reinforcements 
arrived, and without delay, and amid the enthusias- 
tic cheering of the men, he ordered an advance, to 
be followed by a charge upon the enemy's guns. 
There was a sharp musketry fire for a short time, as 
the enemy fell slowly back toward their guns, and 
the artillery of the rebels was handled most skill- 
fully. 

When, however, the lines of the union forces had 
secured the desired position from which to make 
their charge, Marshall suddenly sounded a retreat, 
and left the field under cover of the darkness. 

The sudden disappearance of the enemy and the 
silence which prevailed, together with the uncer- 
tainty whether it was an actual retreat or a ruse, 
made the hour following the disappearance, one of 
great anxiety. The troops, fatigued and hungry, 
moving cautiously about in the dark woodland and 
fields, anxiously awaiting developments, were but a 
counterpart of that other historical picture of the 
great President at Washington, pacing his room at 
that very hour, and saying, " I cannot bear this 
dangerous delay. Have n't we any one who will 
fight.?" 

General Garfield's suspense was not long, however, 
for soon the clouds overhead began to assume an 
unusual color, and a little later were lit up with the 
lurid glare of distant fires. The distant mountains 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 14$ 

stood out prominent in the unnatural light, and pil- 
lars of illumined smoke arose along the road toward 
the gate to Virginia. It was clear, then, that Mar- 
shall was retreating out of Kentucky, and was burn- 
ing his immense military stores. 

To pursue the rebels that night was impractica- 
ble, and after a short cavalry reconnoissance, the 
tired troops used the light of the enemy's burning 
camps to prepare their meager supper and hard beds. 
The time, the circumstances, and the fact that the 
enemy numbered forty-nine hundred, made the vic- 
tory an important one, while Colonel Garfield's brav- 
ery and ability, displayed in the march and engage- 
ment, placed him at once among the experienced and 
trustworthy soldiers. 

The next day the enemy was pursued to the 
Virginia line, and the order was then given to return 
to their camps near Piketon with their prisoners. 
They had killed two hundred and fifty of the enemy 
and taken forty prisoners, with a loss to the union 
troops of only thirty-two men. Colonel Garfield's 
commission as a brigadier-general was dated so as 
to take effect from that battle at Prestonburg. 

Mr. F. H. Mason, a private soldier connected 
with the 42d Ohio has written the following most 
excellent account of the battle. He says : 

"The advance column marched all day, but the 

I roads were so wretched that it was night before it had 

' reached the foot of a high hill, north of the mouth 

I of Abbott's Creek, three miles below Prestonburg 

and on the west side of the Big Sandy. Ascending 



146 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

this hill soon after dark. Colonel Garfield's advance 
encountered at the summit a cavalry picket, which 
fired a volley and retreated. Being evidently in the 
immediate presence of a large force of the enemy, 
Colonel Garfield brought his command to the top of 
the hill, and with strong guards thrown out to the 
front and rear, rested until morning. It was a bitter 
January night. The rain which had fallen all day 
turned to sleet, and a keen, biting gale from the 
north whistled through the mountain pines and 
stiffened the wet clothing of the soldiers with ice. 
No fire could be permitted in such a situation, and 
the men shivered and waited through the long, dreary 
night as best they could. When morning dawned, 
they found themselves on a high hill from which the 
road descended by a steep, zig-zag course to the val- 
ley of Abbott's Creek. 

Immediately after encountering the cavalry the 
evening before. Colonel Garfield had sent back a mes- 
sage directing Colonel Cranor to put all the available 
men at Paintville in motion at once and march to 
his support. The order reached Cranor before day- 
light, and within an hour, twelve hundred men, made 
up from all the regiments in the brigade, were on the 
march. 

The advance column, meanwhile, descended early 
on the morning of the loth, to the valley of Abbott's 
Creek, and found that the enemy had retired up the 
stream and across the dividing ridge into the valley 
of Middle Creek, which comes down from the mount- 
ains parallel with Abbott's Creek, and flows into the 



i 



OP GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I47 

Big Sandy, about a mile further up than the mouth 
of the latter. 

It was at once apparent that Colonel Garfield was 
in the presence of Marshall's entire force, and that 
the latter was disposed to fight. Marshall was 
known to have about thirty-five hundred men of all 
arms, infantry, cavalry and artillery, and had come 
into the Sandy Valley to spend the winter, and, by 
occupying the country, promote enlistments into the 
confederate service. This purpose he could not, of 
course, relinquish without a fight, and he chose his 
ground, for the encounter, deliberately and well. 

Proceeding cautiously and deliberately, in order to 
allow the reinforcements under Lieut.-Col. Sheldon 
to come up. Colonel Garfield passed up the valley of 
Abbott's Creek, forded the stream, crossed the 
ridge and descended into the valley of Middle Creek. 
Here he found Marshall's cavalry drawn up in line 
across the valley, but a few shots from the advance 
drove them back. One cavalry man was cut off from 
the main body, and in attempting to swim the creek, 
was captured, the first prisoner of war taken by the 
Forty-Second on a battle-field. A heavy line of 
skirmishers was thrown across the valley, and the 
advance began. The enemy's cavalry made a formid- 
able show in the broad meadows, but kept at a dis- 
creet distance. Once, they formed behind a small 
spur of hill that ran out into the valley, and from be- 
hind that cover charged down upon the advancing 
column. Throwing his troops into a hollow square, 
Colonel Garfield awaited the attack, and when the 



148 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

cavalry came within range, sent them a volley which 
broke and turned them back. The skirmish line, 
under command of Adjutant Olds, advanced again 
and drove the cavalry from a spur behind which it 
was attempting to rally. This little spur of high 
ground upon which stood a log church, surrounded 
by a few graves, was then occupied by the federal 
force as a base from which to attack or defend, as 
circumstances might require. Drawing up his little 
force on the slope, Colonel Garfield saw that Mar- 
shall had come to a stand. Across the valley half a 
mile distant was the confederate cavalry, and on the 
same line near the foot of the hills, to the right of 
the creek, a battery was in position, which, as the 
skirmishers advanced, opened fire and gave the line 
a momentary check. A few shells were also fired at 
the main force on Graveyard Point ; but the guns 
were badly trained and the shells buried themselves 
harmlessly in the mud. The enemy's cavalry and 
artillery being thus accounted for, it remained for 
Colonel Garfield to discover the location of his in- 
fantry. On the south side of the creek to the right 
of the battery rose a high hill, heavily timbered and 
crowned with a ledge of rock. Around the foot of 
the hill wound the creek, and close beside this, but 
on the opposite side of the stream, lay the road. It 
was at once conjectured that Marshall's infantry had 
occupied the hill, and that the federal column, if it 
advanced round the curve, would be caught by an 
ambushed fire from the opposite bank. To verify 
this theory, Garfield sent his escort, a handful of Ken- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 49 

tucky cavalry, to charge up the road and draw the 
fire of the main body. The ruse was boldly per- 
formed and was completely successful. As the little 
group of horsemen galloped up the creek and round 
the curve in the road, the battery fired harmlessly 
over their heads, and the whole infantry force, with 
the trepidation of new troops, opened fire at long 
range, and completely unmasked their position. 
They occupied the wooded hill from its base half- 
way to its summit. It was now time for real work. 

About four hundred men of the Fortieth and 
Forty-Second Ohio were sent to ford the creek, 
climb the mountain and attack the rebel position in 
front. Major Pardee of the Forty-Second, who was 
practically in command of the fighting in that part 
of the field, threw forward as skirmishers his detach- 
ments of Companies **A" and *'F" of the Forty- 
Second and Company ''A" of the Fortieth, and 
began the ascent. The skirmish line was in com- 
mand of Captain F. A. Williams, who, like Major 
Pardee, seemed to take naturally to the business of 
fighting. Two companies of the Fourteenth Ken- 
tucky, under Lieutenant-Colonel Monroe of that 
regiment, were sent to cross the creek lower down, 
gain a narrow ledge or crest of a ridge that ran up 
to the main hill, and by advancing along that ridge, 
attack the enemy in the flank and save Williams' 
little force from being overpowered. As Williams' 
line advanced up the hill it soon encountered heavy 
opposition. A sharp fire came from behind the trees, 
logs and rocks, and the rebels swarmed down the 



150 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLig SERVICES 

hill, shouting and firing as they came. Half of the 
remaining reserve on Graveyard Point was sent to 
Pardee's support, and thus strengthened, he pushed 
forward. 

The firing now became as hot as a thousand men 
on one side and three thousand on the other could 
make it. Had the casualties been proportionate to 
the amount of powder burned, the union force, at 
least, would have been annihilated. But the rebels 
fired unaccountably wild. They were fighting down 
a steep hill, and, as is usual with raw troops in such 
a position, they overshot their mark, and their bullets, 
for the most part, merely barked and scarred the trees 
over their enemies' heads. They were, moreover, 
armed to a large extent with smooth-bore muskets 
and squirrel rifles of small calibre, and fought like a 
mob, without plan or unity of action. 

The federal line, on the other hand, advanced 
steadily, kept well under cover, fired deliberately, 
and, as the result proved, with excellent effect. The 
rebels were so numerous that the trees and logs 
were insufficient to cover them. Four or five fre- 
quently fought behind one tree. Instead of rushing 
down upon Williams' line, and profiting by the weight 
of superior force, Marshall's men stood and skir- 
mished with an enemy whose very disparity of num- 
bers, by enabling every man to keep well under 
cover, became almost a positive advantage. Firing 
up hill with their heavy, long range Belgian rifles, 
the Ohio men delivered a steady and effective fire. 
Gradually they pushed the enemy up the hill. Re- 



1 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 151 

inforcements came up over the crest and down to the 
rebel line, which seemed to be preparing for a change 
down the slope, when, at the opportune moment, 
Colonel Monroe's Kentuckians appeared on the 
ridge to the left, and from the rocks on the flank and 
rear of the enemy's line, opened an enfilading fire. 

At the moment of Colonel Monroe's appearance in 
the fight, Lieutenant-Colonel Sheldon, who, with 
twelve hundred men, had left Paintville that morning 
and marched through mud and water nearly twenty 
miles, appeared round a curve in the road, a few 
hundred yards in the rear of Garfield's little reserve 
on Graveyard Point. The advancing column sent 
up a cheer of encouragement, which was caught and 
repeated by the reserves, and re-echoed by their 
comrades fighting on the hill. 

Dr. Pomerene, the kind-hearted, enthusiastic sur- 
geon of the Forty-Second, who had grown anxious 
with the sight of this maiden battle, had discovered 
Monroe's line streaming over the hill, and fancied 
that Major Pardee's force was being surrounded. 
The Twenty-Second Kentucky men were uniformed 
in sky blue, the first we had seen, and through the 
foggy afternoon the good doctor mistook their cloth- 
ing for gray. Mounting a horse, hatless and distressed, 
he came splashing through the mud to hurry up the 
reinforcements. Coming within hail of Colonel 
Sheldon, he begged him for God's sake to hurry, "or 
the boys on the other side would be captured." 
The men gave another cheer, tried hard to double- 
quick through the mud, and promptly formed a line 



152 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

across the road in the rear of the log church, where 
the ground was so soft that some of the men mired, 
and the line was moved up on Graveyard Point. The 
effect of this new show of force was decisive, if, in- 
deed, there were needed anything more to decide 
the victory of that day. 

Marshall, though far outnumbering his assailants, 
had been out-fought from the first, and his line, 
pressed hard by Pardee, began to retreat up the hill. 
Inspired by the cheers of their comrades from below, 
the gallant Ohioans — to whom that day's business 
was the- first baptism of war — pushed stubbornly 
forward, driving the rebels into the ledge of broken 
rocks at the summit of the hill, which position they 
held until the already gathering night closed the 
fight. 

Colonel Sheldon promptly, upon his arrival, forded 
the creek and began to climb the hill ; but before 
Major Pardee's position could be reached, darkness 
had settled down upon the combatants, and the bat- 
tle was over. 

The position not being one that could be safely or 
advantageously held during the night, orders were 
sent directing Monroe and Pardee to retire. They 
came down the hill, carrying their wounded, crossed 
the creek, and the whole of Colonel Garfield's force 
was re-united for the night on Graveyard Point. 
Strong pickets were posted up the road and beyond 
the creek ; and notwithstanding the belief that a still 
harder struggle would come on the morrow, the little 
army slept proudly upon its first victory. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 53 

Shortly after dark a brilliant light blazed up from 
behind the hill upon which the fighting had taken 
place during the afternoon. What it meant could 
only be guessed, until the next morning, when a re- 
connoissance at daylight showed the hill abandoned, 
and the enemy gone. The illumination of the night 
before had come from the funeral pile upon which 
Marshall had sacrificed his wagons and baggage — 
everything that could impede his retreat through the 
mountains to Pound Gap, the gateway of the Cum- 
berlands into Southwestern Virginia. Pursuit was, 
of course, useless. With ten hours' start, a perfect 
knowledge of the country, and a competent rear 
guard of cavalry, the now unencumbered enemy 
could have safely retreated from any pursuers, how- 
ever formidable. 

Colonel Garfield's little force was weary and short 
of food. It had started with but two days' rations ; 
the country afforded nothing, and it was necessary to 
return to the river, from which supplies could be re- 
ceived. It remained only, therefore, to look over the 
field of yesterday's fight, bury the dead, and carry 
the wounded as carefully as possible to the river. A 
careful survey of the ground upon which the fight 
had taken place showed a remarkable disparity in 
losses. On the federal side the entire loss was but 
one killed and eleven wounded — eight of the latter 
being members of the Forty-Second. 

The enemy suffered far more severely. Nineteen 
dead were found on the hill-side, up which Marshall's 
men had been driven by Williams' men, and among 



154 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the rocks at the summit of the hill. The heartless 
way in which the rebels disposed of their dead made 
a strong impression upon the not yet callous-hearted 
boys from Ohio. At one place eleven of the con- 
federate dead had been tumbled down into a large 
fissure in the rocks. They were taken out by the 
reconnoitering party next day, and decently buried. 
A squad of the Fourteenth Kentucky still further 
violated the decencies of war by stripping the corpses 
of their buttons and trifling valuables. There was 
abundant evidence that the confederate loss was by 
no means limited to the nineteen dead soldiers found 
on the hill. Seven graves were found at the foot of 
the mountain, near where the baggage had been 
burned. A native, whose hut was near the scene of 
the burning, professed to have filled the graves dur- 
ing the night, and said that they contained the bodies 
of officers. From his account, not less than fifty 
wounded had been carried away in wagons by the 
retreating enemy. 

The remarkable disparity in losses is explained by 
the facts already stated. The federals had the bet- 
ter weapons, they fired up hill from behind trees, 
and fought from first to last with remarkable cool- 
ness and skill. The scars made by their bullets on 
the trees were mainly less than five feet from the 
ground. The bullet marks of the rebels, on the 
other hand, were wild, being often ten and twenty 
feet above the ground. 

On the federal side, the battle of Middle Creek 
was fought by less than a thousand men. The prin- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 155 

cipal fighting detachment was led by Captain Fred- 
erick A. Williams, of Company ''A," Forty-Second 
Ohio, who six months before had been a student at 
Hiram. If there was a single man in his command 
who had ever before been under fire, that fact was 
not known then and is not known to-day. Colonel 
Garfield accepted battle from an enemy whom he 
knew to out-number his own force by at least three 
to one, and the fight was won by simply attacking 
the foe promptly in his own position, making intelli- 
gent use of whatever advantages the ground offered, 
and fighting with steady courage and skill as long as 
daylight lasted. 

The Forty-Second regiment was engaged in many 
bloodier and more renowned battles during its three 
years of service, but it may be fairly questioned 
whether the regiment ever performed a day's duty of 
more timely and permanent value to the country. 
The battle of Middle Creek, skirmish though it may 
be considered, in comparison with later contests, was 
the first substantial victory won for the union cause. 
At Big Bethel, Bull Run, in Missouri, and at various 
points at which the union and confederate forces 
had come in contact, the latter had been uniformly 
victorious. The people of the North, giving freely 
of their men and their substance, in response to each 
successive call of the Government, had long and 
anxiously watched and waited for a little gleam of 
victory to show that Northern valor was a match for 
Southern impetuosity in the field. They had waited 
in vain since the disaster at Bull Run, during the 



156 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

previous summer, and hope had almost yielded to 
despair. The story of Garfield's success at Middle 
Creek came, therefore, like a benediction to the 
union cause. Though won at a trifling cost, it was 
decisive, so far as concerned the purposes of that im- 
mediate campaign. Marshall's force was driven from 
Kentucky, and made no further attempt to occupy 
the Sandy Valley. The important victories at Mill 
Spring, Forts Donelson and Henry, and the repulse 
at Shiloh followed. The victory at Middle Creek 
proved the first wave of a returning tide." 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 57 



CHAPTER XII. 

CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 

LACK OF PROVISIONS. — THE GREAT FLOOD. —DANGEROUS SITUATION 
OF THE TROOPS. — GENERAL GARFIELD GOES TO THE OHIO RIVER. 
— PERILOUS VOYAGE UP THE BIG SANDY. — RECEPTION BY THE 
HUNGRY TROOPS. — EXPEDITION AGAINST THE ENEMY AT POUND 
GAP. — GENERAL ORDERS CONNECTED WITH HIS CA3IPAIGN. — 
HIS TRANSFER TO LOUISVILLE. — HIS NEW COMMAND. — FORCED 
MAHCHES. — THE BATTLE OF CORINTH. — REFUSAL TO RETURN 
SLAVES TO THEIR MASTERS. — ELECTION TO CONGRESS. — APPOINT- 
MENT AS CHIEF OF GENERAL ROSECRANS' STAFF. — BATTLE OF 
CHICAMAUQA.— PROMOTION TO MAJOR-GENERAL. — RESIGNATION. 

The next day after establishing the brigade camp, 
a heavy rain storm came on which laid a large por- 
tion of Sandy Valley under water. It was impossi- 
ble to march or to transport provisions over land. 
The river became so swollen that the steamboats 
were detained in the Ohio, and that source of supply 
was also closed. It was a most alarming condition 
of affairs, for it was impossible for the army to find 
sufficient food in the surrounding region, even if they 
transgressed the strict orders forbidding foraging. 
When they had rations for two days only the puzzled 
commander saw no way to save his little army from 
actual starvation. If the army had been able to 
march or wade through the mud, it would have been 
a disobedience of orders to leave the country to be 
again occupied by the enemy. 



158 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

In his perplexity he decided to go for provisions 
himself, thinking that he might find some boat along 
the river which could be brought up in such an 
extremity. 

But he went as far as the Ohio river before he 
found one. The great flood was so powerful that no 
one dared venture into its surges. He found two or 
three boatmen who said that a boat had once as- 
cended the Big Sandy in a flood like that, but it 
was a miracle that it escaped destruction. 

'* Some boat must go up," said the general. "My 
men shall not starve! " 

He found a rickety steamboat fastened to the bank 
of the stream awaiting a subsidence of the flood, and 
he ordered the captain to take a load of provisions 
up the river to the camp. The captain refused, say- 
ing that it would be as bad as suicide to undertake 
it. But Colonel Garfield insisted, and the captain and 
men, thinking they might as well be drowned as be 
shot for disobedience of military orders, allowed the 
boat, with themselves, to be taken by the general for 
the dangerous experiment. Finding no one he dared 
to trust to take the wheel or who was strong enough 
to manage it in the swift current, the general him- 
self took the wheel, and for two days and the greater 
part of one night stood at his post. It required the 
most cautious steering to avoid the projecting banks 
and trees covered by the flood, and often the boat 
would graze an obstruction which would have sunk 
it, if it had struck near the prow. 

Once the craft ran aground on a hard sandbank 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 59 

and refused to back off when the wheel was reversed, 
and the general tried to induce some of the men to 
take the small boat and go on shore to fasten a rope 
so that they might pull the boat off the bank by the 
aid of the windlass. Not one dared tempt the ter- 
rific flood. So the general took the boat and the 
rope, and at a most hazardous risk of his life, espe- 
cially so, as the river navigation was new to him, he 
crossed the stream and fastened the rope. 

It was a triumphant hour for him, when he saw 
the crowd of his anxious troops on the river bank 
awaiting his coming, and one in which he blessed 
the day on which he learned to steer a canal boat. 

The half-famished men, who had descended in 
despair to the river, believing that no boat could 
stem the flood, shouted themselves hoarse, and per- 
formed all kinds of childish antics, when they saw 
their general skillfully steering the frail and trem- 
bling river steamer. They could scarcely believe 
their own eyes ; and many a night about the camp 
fires the soldiers afterwards told the story of the 
general's dangerous trip up the Sandy, with rations 
for his hungry men. 

For three months the union troops remained at 
or near Piketon, often making short expeditions to 
drive out stray bands of rebel marauders. 

In the month of March, General Garfield deter- 
mined to drive out the rebels who were posted near 
Pound Gap, on the Virginia side of the Cumberland 
mountains ; and with seven hundred men, including 
two hundred cavalry, he made a forced march of 



l6o THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

forty miles, and encamped secretly near the enemy's 
quarters. Early next morning, in a blinding snow 
Storm, he sent the cavalry through the Gap, while 
the infantry clambered up by a difficult path to sur- 
prise the rebels in the rear. He was completely 
successful in surprising the post, but the rebels 
scattered so fast that he captured but few of them. 
They left valuable stores of amunition and provisions 
behind, of which he took possession. The next day 
he burned the camp and returned to his quarters. A 
few days later he was ordered to report with the 
greater part of his command at Louisville. 

The order of General Buel, which he had thus 
obeyed so implicitly and fully, was dated December 
17, 1 86 1, and reads as follows : 

Head-quarters Department of the Ohio, 
Louisville, Ky., December 17, 1861. 
Sir: — The brigade, organized under your com- 
mand, is intended to operate against the rebel force 
threatening, and, indeed, actually committing depre- 
dations in Kentucky, through the valley of the Big 
Sandy. The actual force of the enemy, from the best 
information I can gather, does not probably exceed 
two thousand, or two thousand five hundred, though 
rumor places it as high as seven thousand. I can 
better ascertain the true state of the case when you 
get on the ground. 

You are apprised of the position of the troops 
under your command. Go first to Lexington and 
Paris, and place the 40th Ohio regiment in such 
position as will best give a moral support to the peo- 
ple in the counties on the route to Prestonburg 
and Piketon, and oppose any further advance of the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l6l 

enemy on that route. Then proceed with the least 
possible delay to the mouth of the Sandy, and move, 
with the force in that vicinity, up that river and 
drive the enemy back or cut him off. Having done 
that, Piketon will probably be in the best position 
for you to occupy to guard against future incursions. 
Artillery will be of little, if any, service to you in 
that country. If the enemy have any, it will encum- 
ber and weaken, rather than strengthen them. 

Your supplies must mainly be taken up the river, 
and it ought to be done as soon as possible, while 
the navigation is open. Purchase what you can in 
the country through which you operate. Send your 
requisitions to these head-quarters for funds and 
advance stores, and to the Quartermasters and Com- 
missary at Cincinnati for other supplies. 

The conversation 1 have had with you will sug- 
gest more details than can be given here. Report 
frequently on all matters concerning your command. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

D. C. BUEL, 

Brigadier-General Commanding. 

The above order was followed by a congratulatory 
order, dated January 20, 1862, which reads as fol- 
lows : 

Head-quarters Department of the Ohio, 
Louisville, Ky., January 20, 1862. 

[General Orders No. 40.] 

The general commanding takes occasion to thank 

General Garfield and his troops for their successful 

campaign against the rebel forces under General 

Marshall on the Big Sandy, and their gallant con- 

II 



l62 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

duct in battle. They have overcome formidable dif- 
ficulties in the character of the country, the condi- 
tion of the roads, and the inclemency of the season ; 
and without artillery, have, in several engagements 
terminating in the battle on Middle Creek on the 
lotk inst., driven the enemy from his entrenched 
positions and forced him back into the mountains 
with the loss of a large amount of baggage and 
stores, and many of his men killed or captured. 
These services called into action the highest quaU- 
ties of a soldier, — fortitude, perseverance, courage." 

When General Garfield arrived at Louisville, he 
found that General Buel was far away in Tennessee, 
hurrying to the assistance of General Grant, at Pitts- 
burg Landing. So General Garfield, obedient to fresh 
orders,bade a hasty farewell to his comrades, and hur- 
ried on after the army. He overtook General Buel 
at Columbia, Tennessee, and was at once assigned to 
the command of the 20th brigade, in the division of 
General T. J. Wood. 

This change in his command was a great grief to 
General Garfield, who had hoped to keep the Fortieth 
Ohio in his brigade, and thus be with his old friends, 
scholars and neighbors throughout the war. But 
from that time their paths diverged, and never united 
again during the entire contest. 

The army, of which his new command formed a 
part, made a forced march from Columbia to Savan- 
nah, on the Tennessee river, and from that point 
they were in great haste hurried on by boat to Pitts- 
burg Landing. The battle of Shiloh had been rag- 
ing for more than a day, when these reinforcements 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 163 

arriVed. Without rest or time to enter camp they 
hurried on to the field of battle, and General Garfield's 
command was under fire during the final contest 
which gave the victory to the federal troops. 

The next day his brigade, with other forces under 
General Sherman, was sent in pursuit of the retreat- 
ing enemy, and a short but hotly contested battle 
was fought, in which General Garfield was conspicu- 
ously cool and brave. 

During that tedious siege of Corinth, which fol- 
lowed, his brigade was nearly all the time at the out- 
posts, and was engaged often in skirmishes with the 
rebels, and were with the first column that was 
ordered forward when the town was evacuated by 
Beauregard. 

In June, 1862, his brigade was sent to repair and 
protect the Memphis and Charleston railroad, be- 
tween Corinth and Decatur, after which he advanced 
to Huntsville, Alabama, and gained no little credit 
for his skill in military engineering, connected with 
the fortifications. 

It has been often related of him that while in com- 
mand of this brigade, a fugitive slave came rushing 
into his camp, with a bloody head, and apparently 
frightened almost to death. He had scarcely passed 
the head-quarters, when a regular bully of a fellow 
came riding up, and with a volley of oaths began to 
ask after his "nigger." General Garfield was not 
present, and he passed on to the division commander. 
The division commander was a sympathizer with the 
theory that fugitive slaves should be returned to their 



164 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

masters, and that the union soldiers should be made 
the instruments for returning them. He accordingly 
wrote a mandatory order to General Garfield, in 
whose command the darkey was supposed to be hid- 
ing, telling him to hunt out and deliver over the 
property of the outraged citizen. He took the order 
and deliberately wrote on it the following indorse- 
ment : — 

" I respectively but positively decline to allow my 
command to search for or deliver up any fugitive 
slaves. I conceive that they are here for quite 
another purpose. The command is open, and no ob- 
stacles will be placed in the way of search." 

The indorsement frightened his staff officers, and 
they expected that, if returned, the result would be 
that the general would be court-martialed. He 
simply replied, **The matter may as well be tested 
first as last. Right is right, and I do not propose to 
mince matters at all. My soldiers are here for other 
purposes than hunting and returning fugitive slaves. 
My people, on the Western Reserve of Ohio, did not 
send my boys and myself down here to do that kind 
of business, and they will back me up in my action." 
He would not alter the indorsement, and the order 
was returned. Nothing ever came of the matter 
further. 

June 15th, General Garfield was detailed to sit in 
a trial by court-martial of a lieutenant of the Fifty- 
Eighth Indiana volunteers. His skill in that case, 
combined with his memory of judicial decisions, 
caused the officers, sitting with him in the court, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 65 

to commend him for his signal ability in such mat- 
ters. On July 5th, he was again detailed to act as 
president of the important court-martial detailed to 
try Colonel Turchin, of the Nineteenth Illinois. Of 
that court, General Garfield's adjutant-general, Cap- 
tain P. T. Swain, acted as judge advocate. 

July 30th, he was given a leave of absence, owing 
to the return of the fever and ague, which had not 
disturbed him until that season, from the spring 
when he left the canal. For two months he lay at 
Hiram, dangerously sick, and several important com- 
mands were offered him, which his illness compelled 
him to decline. It was during this summer that he 
paid for the small wooden dwelling in Hiram, which 
was afterwards his home. 

As soon as he was able to travel he was ordered 
by the Secretary of War to report to the War De- 
partment, at Washington. This he did about the 
25th of September. His fame as a jurist in martial 
trials had reached Washington, and he was ordered 
to sit on the court of inquiry in the case of General 
McDowell. At one time he was ordered to proceed 
to South Carolina, with General Hunter, but circum- 
stances intervened to keep them in Washington. 

November 25, 1862, he was made a member of the 
court in the celebrated trial of General Fitz-John 
Porter for the failure to co-operate with General 
Pope, at the battle of Bull Run. At that trial he 
had a delicate and important duty to perform, and 
1 did his work with such wisdom as to secure the un- 



l66 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

solicited compliment from its president that " he 
must have been a great lawyer in Ohio." 

During his engagements at Washington, he was 
called home by the illness and death of his only 
child. It was a sad blow to a heart so tender as his ; 
and it is said of him that while he held the body of 
the sweet little child in his arms, after its death, he 
remarked how inappropriate to everything, about him 
was his military uniform, and of how little conse- 
quence, compared with the love and peace of a happy 
home, were the honors which men could bestow. 

While he was at home, in the months of August 
and September, as already stated, and confined to his 
bed, there was no little agitation going on in that 
congressional district, over a successor to the re- 
nowned anti-slavery champion, Joshua R. Giddings. 
The excitement was caused by the fact that Mr. 
Giddings had been defeated in the nominating con- 
vention, two years before, by some means, and his 
friends laid all the blame on the successful candidate. 
They therefore determined upon preventing the re- 
nomination of Mr. Giddings' successor. In their ] 
canvas for a candidate who would be sure to carry 
the convention, as there was no hope that the health 
of Mr. Giddings would admit of his return to Con- 
gress, even if he could have left his post as consul- 
general of Canada, they hit upon General Garfield, 
who at that time was recovering, but whose return to 
the malarial districts was considered dangerous. His 
name was one which was sure to overcome any com- 
bination or opposition. It does not appear that they 



\\ 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 167 

consulted with General Garfield at all, but very care- 
fully concealed their design, both from him and the 
opposition. On the presentation of his name to the 
Republican congressional convention, in September, 
it was received with all the enthusiasm that the 
friends of the measure had expected. He was the 
single man on the '* Western Reserve " against 
whom it would be a farce to make any opposition. 

The movement did not at first meet with General 
Garfield's approval, and he reserved his decision 
whether he should refuse the honor, until he' could 
confer with President Lincoln. His pay as a general 
was much larger than that of a congressman ; he 
had entered the war to stay, and he disliked to leave 
it. 

On the other hand, his health might break down 
if he returned to the South, and it was probable that 
the war would be closed in the year which would in- 
tervene between his election and the opening of the 
Congress to which he would be chosen. 

When he visited the President, and told him the 
circumstances, Mr. Lincoln bluntly remarked that 
there were generals enough already and plenty more 
to be had, but the number of congressmen who un- 
derstood the needs of the country were few, and if 
the rebellion continued, it was likely to be lessened 
I by the death or enlistment of good men. Other 
members of the Cabinet giving him the same advice, 
he silently acquiesced in the nomination, and was 
elected with unheard of unanimity. 

In January he had so far recovered that he was 



1 68 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ordered into thefield, and directed to report to Gen- 
eral Rosecrans, at Murfreesboro'. Immediately after 
his arrival he was appointed chief of staff to General 
Rosecrans, then commanding the army of the Cum- 
berland. 

The writer of the history of the Forty-Second 
Ohio regiment, whose sources of information were 
so trustworthy, and whose gifts as a writer were so 
apparent as to lead to his selection, by that regiment 
of students, as their historian, wrote, in 1875, of 
General Garfield's share in the campaigns of the 
army of the Cumberland, as follows : 

''He was assigned to duty as chief of staff of the 
army of the Cumberland, in place of the lamented 
Colonel Garesche, who had been killed in the battle 
of Stone river. Early in the spring of that year 
Captain D. G. Swain, his adjutant-general since the 
previous April, was directed to organize a Bureau of 
Military Information. By a system of police and 
scout reports, very full and trustworthy information 
was obtained of the organization, strength, and posi- 
tion of the enemy's forces. 

Early in June the general commanding required 
each general of a corps and division of the army of 
the Cumberland, to report his opinions, in writing, in 
reference to an early or immediate advance against 
the forces of General Bragg. Seventeen general 
officers submitted written opinions on that subject. 
Most of them were adverse to any early movement, 
and nearly all advised against an immediate advance. 
General Garfield presented to the commanding gen- 



I 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 69 

eral an analysis and review of these opinions, and 
urged an immediate movement against the enemy. 
For more than five months the army of Rosecrans 
had lain inactive at Murfreesboro', while the com- 
manding general had haggled and bandied words 
with the War Department. As chief of staff, General 
Garfield did all that adroit diplomacy could do to 
soften these asperities, and meanwhile give all his 
energy to the work of preparing the army for an ad- 
vance, and ascertaining the strength of the enemy. 

His Bureau of Military Information was the most 
perfect machine of the kind organized in the field 
during the war. When at last June came, the Gov- 
ernment and the people demanding an advance, and 
the seventeen subordinate generals of Rosecrans 
advising against it, the analysis of the situation 
drawn up and submitted by General Garfield, met 
and overthrew them all. Speaking of this letter, 
Mr. Whitelaw Reid in his ' Ohio in the War,' says : 
'This report we venture to pronounce the ablest 
military document known to have been submitted by 
a chief of staff to his superior during the war.' 
This is high praise, but it is history. 

Twelve days after it was submitted, the army 

moved, — against the will and opinion of Gene, il 

Crittenden and nearly all Rosecrans' leading officers. 

Tt marched into the Tullahoma campaign, one of the 

I most perfectly planned and ably executed movements 

I of the war. The lateness of the start, caused by the 

(objections which General Garfield's letter finally 

: overcame, alone saved Bragg's army from destruction. 



I/O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES ] 

There was a certain work to do, which might as well 
have been begun on the ist of June as the 24th. 
Had it been begun on the first of these dates, Bragg's 
army might, in all probability, have been destroyed. 
As it was, the heavy rains intervened and saved him 
from pursuit. 

With his military reputation thus strengthened, 
General Garfield went with his chief into the battle 
of Chickamauga. His influence over Rosecrans had 
by this time become almost supreme. His clear 
and comprehensive mind grasped every detail, and 
his opinions were invariably consulted on all impor- 
tant questions. He wrote many orders upon his 
own judgment, submitting them to Rosecrans for 
approval or alteration. On the field of Chickamauga, 
he wrote every order except one, and that one was 
the fatal order to General Wood which ruined Rose- 
crans' right wing and lost the battle. The order 
from Rosecrans to Wood, as the latter interpreted it, 
required him to move his command behind another 
division, leaving a wide gap in the line of McCook's 
corps, which held the right Wood says that he 
knew this move would be fatal, but it was ordered 
and he felt impelled to execute it. Longstreet saw 
'.le blunder, hurled Hood's division into the gap, 
and within an hour McCook's corps was broken and 
streaming, a disorganized mob of men, back to Chat- 
tanooga. Trying vainly to check the tide of retreat, 
General Garfield was swept with his chief back be- 
yond Rossville. But the chief of staff could not 
concede that defeat had been entire. He heard the 




Thk Battlkkikld of Ohtckamauga and its S^icinity. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. lyi 

roar of Thomas' guns on the left, and gained per- 
mission of Rosecrans to go round to that quarter and 
find the army of the Cumberland. While the com- 
mander busied himself with preparing a refuge at 
Chattanooga for his routed army, his chief of staff 
went back, accompanied only by a staff officer and a 
few orderlies, to find whatever part of the army still 
held its ground, and save what there was left. It was 
a perilous ride. Long before he reached Thomas one 
of his orderlies was killed. Almost alone he pushed 
on over the obstructed road, through pursuers and 
pursued, found the heroic Thomas encircled by 
fire, but still firm, told him of the disaster on the 
right, and explained how he could withdraw his right 
wing and fix it upon a new line to meet Longstreet's 
column, which had turned the right of Thomas' position 
and was marching in heavy column upon his rear. The 
movement was made just in time; but Thomas' line 
was too short, it would not reach to the base of the 
mountain. Longstreet saw the gap, drove his column 
into it and would have struck Thomas' line fatally in 
the rear, but in that critical moment General Gordon 
Granger came up with Steadman's division, which 
moved in heavy column, threw itself upon Long- 
street, and after a terrific stru2:o:le, drove him back. 
The dead and wounded lay in heaps where those two 
columns met, but the army oi General Thomas was 
saved. As night closed in upon the heroic army of 
the Cumberland, Generals Garfield and Granger, 
on foot and enveloped in smoke, directed the loading 
and pointing of a battery of Napoleon guns, whose 



1/2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

flash, as they thundered after the retreating column 
of the assailants, was the last light that shown upon 
the battle field of Chickamauga. The struggle was 
over, and the rebels retired repulsed. Had the two 
shattered corps of McCook and Crittenden that night 
been brought upon the field and enabled Thomas to 
hold his ground, there might have been a second 
day to that battle which would have changed its 
complexion in history. 

The battle of Chickamauga practically closed 
General Garfield's military career. About four weeks 
after the engagement he was sent by Rosecrans to 
Washington to report minutely to the President and 
the War Department the position, deeds, resources, 
and capabilities of the army at Chattanooga. He 
went, had frequent lengthy interviews with the 
President and Secretary Stanton, and thus, point by 
point, made a most thorough and satisfactory report. 
Meanwhile, General Garfield had been promoted to 
a major-generalship of volunteers 'for gallant and 
meritorious services at the battle of Chickamauga,' 
to take rank from the 19th of September, 1863. 
Rosecrans had been removed from the command of 
the army at Chattanooga and General Grant appointed 
to his place. 

General Garfield was now called to a new field of 
duty. In October of the year previous, while the 
Forty^Second was retreating from Cumberland Gap, 
the people of the Nineteenth Congressional District 
of Ohio had elected him as their representative to 
the Thirty-Eighth Congress. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 73 

He was a major-general, young, popular in the 
army, and in high favor at Washington ; he was poor, 
and his army pay was double the slender salary of a 
Congressman, but he had been chosen by the people 
of his district as their representative under circum- 
stances which in his judgment would not permit him 
to decline the trust. General Thomas offered him 
the command of a corps ; but Lincoln urged him to 
resign his commission and come to Congress. The 
President was strenuous, and his advice prevailed. 
There was no want of major-generals, but there was 
need of all the zeal, courage and ability that could 
be assembled in Congress. So his friends argued, 
and the sequel proved the wisdom of their demand 
upon him. Yielding to this, he resigned his com- 
mission on the 5th of December. 1863, having served 
in the army more than a year after his election to 
Congress, and took his seat on the same day in the 
House of Representatives, where he has been in 
continuous service since that day. 

The influence of General Garfield upon the Forty- 
Second regiment was unbounded. As colonel, not 
less than as professor and principal of a collegiate 
school, he evinced a rare and extraordinary power 
in controlling, interesting and inspiring young men. 
It was due largely to his enthusiastic efforts that the 
regiment was made up of some of the best material 
that Ohio sent into the field. The careful, laborious 
education, the discipline, the quickening of individual 
self-respect that the regiment underwent at his 
hands while in Camp Chase, were never lost upon its 



174 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

men. Long after he had gone to other duties, the 
recollection of his words was a source of inspiration 
to the men ; and as they went into their first fight at 
Middle Creek, against overwhelming numbers, with 
serene confidence, because their trusted colonel had 
sent them, so afterwards they fought and marched as 
though conscious that the eye of their first com- 
mander was still upon them." 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 75 



CHAPTER XIII. 

REVIEW OF HIS MILITARY CAREER. 

FITNESS FOR MILITARY AFFAIRS. — HOW HE BECAME FAMILIAR WITH 
INFANTRY TACTICS. — CARRIES THE CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF 
HIS BOYHOOD INTO ARMY LIFE. — HIS KNOWLEDGE OF LAW. — MIL- 
ITARY TRIALS, — THE TULLAHOMA CAMPAIGN. — HIS ABILITY AS AN 
ENGINEER. — HIS GREAT PLAN FOR AN ONWARD MOVEMENT FROM 
MURFREESBORO'. — HIS OFFICIAL REPORT. — COMPLIMENT FROM 
GENERAL ROSECRANS. — HIS RESIGNATION. 

Glancing back upon General Garfield's military 
career, with the accumulated facts of history adding 
their testimony to the high estimate made of him in 
1863, the most conservative writer must be aston- 
ished at the ability displayed by him. It will also 
appear, that while the fact that the Secretary of War 
was from Ohio, and might be predisposed to observe 
the merits of a soldier from the same State, yet all 
the promotions which came to him were clearly and 
undisputedly deserved by him, and for the national 
good. He had a natural fitness, in some way, for 
military affairs. He seemed to be experienced in all 
the emergencies that met him ; and everywhere acted, 
as his associates testify, 'Mike an old soldier." 

It is interesting to note how much of this success 
and appearance of familiarity was due to his early 
habits. He had accustomed himself to occupy all his 



\j6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

time in some profitable work or study. He had, from 
the time he possessed but one book to study, schooled 
himself to thoroughly understand whatever he was 
given to learn. 

Place these two characteristics together, and notice 
its bearing on his military usefulness. A scrutiny of 
the history of those early days of the war shows that 
he began to study military works as early as his days 
in the Senate of Ohio ; and that from the day that 
Governor Dennison notified him of his appointment 
as a lieutenant-colonel, he bent his whole energy to- 
ward gaining an understanding of the art and rules 
of war He applied himself closely to the practice 
of infantry tactics, and studied intently the directions 
for movements in regimental, battalion, and brigade 
drill. When his regiment began to assemble at 
Camp Chase, near Columbus, he was able to estab- 
lish an officer's school, and to teach the most import- 
ant matters himself. His confidence in himself came 
from his consciousness of having thoroughly mas- 
tered the subject. He studied military engineering 
in the same manner ; and from that went to the plans 
of successful campaigns made by great soldiers of the 
past. 

To those must be added the other prominent marks 
in his character, and a solution of his sudden rise is 
explained. The same active and obedient imagina- \ 
tion, which in his boyhood turned the orchard trees , 
into Indian chiefs, made the fields of wheat a host of i 
buccaneers, and the bowing young maples an atten- j 
tive audience, served him in his study of military' 



OF GENERAL JAMES A, GARFIELD. I// 

movements, by supplying him with squads and regi- 
ments to drill, which were invisible to the natural 
eye and even to the imagination of many persons in 
his situation. He could give the orders and see the 
evolutions, and this mental practice made his appear- 
ance on his first trial seem like that of a veteran. 

But combined with all the traits already mentioned 
was that sterling truthfulness, which has been men- 
tioned as a characteristic of his boyhood. It Vv^on 
for him the respect of his superiors and the love of 
his inferiors. His word was implicitly trusted. To 
this known characteristic was due, in a great meas- 
ure, the confidence which was placed in the Bureau 
of Information, which was managed by Major Swain, 
under General Garfield's direction. He misrepre- 
sented nothing. He over-estimated nothing, Be- 
fore him the lying scouts, spies, fugitives, slaves and 
captives seemed to be in awe of his integrity ; and, 
as one of his staff has said, " he impelled them to 
tell the truth by the very force of his presence and 
example." The information he obtained of the ene- 
my's movements and numbers was so correct that 
great armies moved on to victories, led by his direc- 
tions. 

His thorough knowledge of law and his adminis- 
trative ability, combined with the traits already men- 
tioned, caused his words and decisions to be respect- 
ed in martial courts. He had been thorough and 
honest with himself in his studies, and one who is 
honest and sincere with himself is honest and sin- 
12 



1/8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

cere with all the world. It is a rule that works both 
ways. 

But the crown of all his military achievements, 
and one which our successful general have all pro- 
nounced to be a masterly stroke of military genius, 
is found in his plan of the Tullahoma campaign, 
from Murfreesboro', by the army of the Cumberland. 
All testify that, had General Rosecrans moved at 
once, instead of hesitating to hear the advice of 
other generals, who opposed it, General Bragg' s 
command must have been captured, and the rebel- 
lion cut in twain, a year before Sherman marched to 
the sea. 

As it was, the campaign was an important and 
successful movement, and gave our armies many 
advantages in the movements which Grant after- 
wards made. 

Whitelaw Reid, in his great work on "Ohio in the 
War," has printed entire the paper submitted by 
General Garfield to the commanding general, at that 
time, and it deserves a place in every biography of 
General Garfield. 

General Rosecrans had been waiting five months 
for a favorable opportunity to attack General Bragg, 
and had many foolish quarrels with the War Depart- 
ment on account of his delay and strenuous demands 
for cavalry and stores. But, at last, under the urgent 
advice of General Garfield, his chief of staff, he 
asked the advice of the generals in command of 
divisions in the army of the Cumberland, about an 
advance. All advised against it. General Garfield 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 179 

was in favor of an immediate move, and gave his 
reasons for it. His advice was taken, with the good 
results already mentioned. The document gives 
such an insight into the condition of affairs, and 
exhibits so strikingly General Garfield's customary 
caution, foresight, and logical arrangement, that it is 
given entire. 

Head-quarters Department of the Cumberland. 
MuRFREESBORo', June 12, 1864. 

General : — In your confidential letter of the 8th inst. , to the corps 
and division commanders and generals of cavalry, of this army, there 
were substantially five questions propounded, for their consideration 
and answer, viz. : 

1. Has the enemy of our front been materially weakened by de- 
tachments to Johnston, or elsewhere ? 

2. Can this army advance on him at this time, with strong, reason- 
able chances of fighting a great and successful battle ? 

3. Do you think an advance of our army at present likely to pre- 
vent additional reinforcements being sent against General Grant by 
the enemy in our front ? 

4. Do you think an immediate advance of the army advisable ? 

5. Do you think an early advance advisable ? 

Many of the answers to these questions are not categorical, and 
cannot be clearly set down either as affirmative or negative. Espe- 
cially in answer to the first question there is much indefiniteness, re- 
sulting from the difference of judgment as to how great a detachment 
could be considered a " material reduction of Bragg's strength." For 
example, one officer thinks it has been reduced ten thousand, and not 
" materially weakened." 

The answers to the second question are modified, in some instances, 
by the opinion that the rebels will fall back behind the Tennessee 
river, and thus no battle can be fought, either successful or unsuc- 
cessful. 

So far as these opinions can be stated, in tabular form, they will 
stand thus : — 



Yes. 


No. 


6 


II 


2 


II 


4 


10 




15 




2 



l80 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



Answer to first question, . , . 

Answer to second question, 

Answer to third question, 

Answer to tourth question. 

Answer to fifth question, 
On the fifth question, three gave it as their opinion that this army 
ought to advance as soon as Vicksburg falls, should that event hap- 
pen. The following is a summary of the reasons assigned why we 
should not, at this time, advance upon the enemy : — 

1. With Hooker's army defeated, and Grant's bending all its ener- 
gies in a yet undecided struggle, it is bad policy to risk our only re- 
serve army to the chances of a general engagement. A failure here 
would have most disastrous effect on our lines of communication, and 
on politics in the loyal States. 

2. We should be compelled to fight the enemy on his own ground, 
or follow him in a fruitless chase ; or, if we attempted to out-flank 
him and turn his position, we should expose our line of communica- 
tion, and run the risk of being pushed back into a rough country, well- 
known to the enemy and little to ourselves. 

3. In case the enemy should fall back without accepting battle, he 
could make our advance very slow, and with a comparatively small 
force posted in tjie gaps of the mountains, could hold us back while he 
crossed the Tennessee river, where he would be measurably secure, 
and free to send reinforcements to Johnston. 

His forces in East Tennessee could seriously harrass our left flank 
and constantly disturb our communications. 

4. The withdrawal of Burnside's ninth army corps deprives us of 
an important reserve and flank protection, thus increasing the difificulty 
of an advance. 

5. General Hurlburt has sent the most of his force away to Gener- 
al Grant, thus leaving West Tennessee uncovered, and laying our 
right flank and rear open to raids of the enemy. 

The following incidental opinions are expressed : — 

1. One officer thinks it probable that the enemy has been strength- 
ened, rather than weakened, and that he (the enemy) would have 
reasonable prospect of victory in a general battle. 

2. One officer believes the result of a general battle would be 
doubtful, a victory barren, and a defeat most disastrous. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l8l 

3. Three officers believe that an advance would bring on a general 
engagement. Three others believe it would not. 

4. Two officers express the opinion that the chances of success in 
a general battle are nearly equal. 

5. One officer expresses the belief that our army has reached its 
maximum strength and efficiency, and that inactivity will seriously im- 
pair its effectiveness. 

6. Two officers say that an increase of our cavalry, by about six 
thousand men, would materially change the aspect of our affairs, and 
give us a decided advantage. 

In addition to the above summary, I have the honor to submit an 
estimate of the strength of Bragg's army, gathered from all the data 
I have been able to obtain, including the estimate of the general com- 
manding, in his official report of the battle of Stone river, and facts 
gathered from prisoners, deserters and refugees, and from rebel news- 
papers. After the battle, Bragg consolidated many of his decimated 
regiments and irregular organizations ; and at the time of his sending 
reinforcements to Johnston, his army had reached the greatest effective 
strength. It consisted of five divisions of infantry, composed of 
ninety four regiments, and two independent battalions of sharp-shoot- 
ers, — say ninety regiments. By a law of the confederate Congress, 
regiments are consolidated when their effective strength falls below 
two hundred and fifty men. Even the regiments formed by such con- 
solidation (which may reasonably be regarded as the fullest) must fall 
below five hundred. I am satisfied that four hundred is a large esti- 
mate of the average strength. 

The force, then, would be : — 

• Infantry, 95 regiments, 400 each, . . . 3^'°°° 

Cavalry, 35 regiments, say, 500 each, . . . i7>50o 
Artillery, 26 batteries, say 100 each, . . . 2,600 

Total, . 58.600 

This force has been reduced by detachments to Johnston. It is as 
well known as we can ever expect to ascertain such facts, that three 
brigades have gone trom McConn's division, and two or three from 
Breckinridge's, — say two It is clear that there are now but four 
infantry divisions in Bragg's army, the tourth being composed of 
fragments of McConn's and Breckinridge's divisions, and must be 
much smaller than the average. Deducting the five brigades, and 



1 82 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

supposing them composed of only foui regiments each, which is below 
the general average, it gives an infantry reduction of twenty regiments, 
four hundred each — eight thousand — leaving a remainder of thirty 
thousand. It is clearly ascertained that at least two brigades of cav- 
alry have been sent from Van Dorn's command to the Mississippi, and 
it is asserted in the Chattanooga Rebel, of June i ith, that General 
Morgan's command has been permanently detached and sent to East- 
ern Kentucky. It is not certainly known how large his division is, 
but it is known to contain at least two brigades. Taking this mini- 
mum as the fact, Tse have a cavalry reduction of four brigades. 

Taking the lowest estimate, four regiments to the brigade, we have 
a reduction, by detachment, of sixteen regiments, five hundred each, 
leaving his present effective cavalry force nine thousand five hundred. 
With the nine brigades of the two arms thus detached, it will be safe 
to say there have gone, — 

Six batteries, 80 men each, 480 

Leaving him 20 batteries, . . . . .2,120 
Making a total reduction of .... 16,480 
Leaving, of the three arms, 41,680 

In this estimate of Bragg's strength, I have placed all doubts in his 
favor, and I have no question that my estimate is considerably beyond 
the truth General Sheridan, who has taken great pains to collect 
evidence on this point, places it considerably below these figures. But 
assuming these to be correct, and granting what is still more improba- 
ble, that Bragg would abandon all his rear posts, and entirely neglect 
his communications, and could bring his last man into battle, I next 
ask : What have we with which to oppose him ? 

The last official report of effective strength, now on file in the office 
of the assistant adjutant general, is dated from June nth, and shows 
that we have in this department, omitting all officers and enlisted men 
attached to department, corps, division and brigade head-quarters : — 

1. Infantry — One hundred and seventy- three regiments ; ten bat- 
talions sharp-shooters ; four battalions pioneers ; and one regiment of 
engineers and mechanics, with a total effective strength of seventy 
thousand nine hundred and eighteen. 

2. Cavalry — Twenty-seven regiments and one unattachee com- 
pany, eleven thousand, eight hundred and thirteen. 

3. Artillery — Forty-seven and a half batteries field artillery, con- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 83 

sisting of two hundred and ninety-two guns and five hundred and 
sixty-nine men, making a general total of eighty-seven thousand eight 
hundred. 

Leaving out all commissioned officers, this army represents eighty- 
two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven bayonets and sabers. 
This report does not include the Fifth Iowa cavalry, six hundred 
strong, lately armed ; nor the First Wisconsin cavalry ; nor Coburn's 
brigade of infantry, now arriving ; nor the two thousand three hundred 
and ninety four convalescents, now on light duty in " Fortress Mon- 
roe." 

There are detached from this force as follows : — 

At Galatin, 9^9 

At Carthage, i,i49 

At Fort Donelson, 1,485 

At Clarkesville, 1,138 

At Nashville 7.292 

At Franklin, 9°° 

At Lavergne 2,117 

Total, 15,130 

With these posts as they are, and leaving two thousand five hundred 
efficient men, in addition to the two thousand three hundred and 
ninety-four convalescents, to hold the works at this place, there will 
be left sixty-five thousand one hundred and thirty-seven bayonets and 
sabers to show, against Bragg's forty-one thousand six hundred and 
eighty. 

I beg leave, also, to submit the following considerations : — 

1. Bragg's army is weaker now than it has been since the battle of 
Stone river, or is likely to be, at present, while our army has reached 
its maximum strength, and we have no right to expect reinforcements 
for several months, if at all. 

2. Whatever be the result at Vicksburg, the determination of its 
fate will give large reinforcements to Bragg. If Grant is successful, 
his army will require many weeks to recover from the shock and strain 
of his late campaign, while Johnston will send back to Bragg a force 
sufficient to insure the safety of Tennessee. If Grant fails, the same 
result will inevitably follow, so far as Bragg's army is concerned. 



184 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

3. No man can predict, with a certainty, the results of any battle, 
however great the disparity in numbers. Such results are in the hand 
of God. But, reviewing the question in the light ot human calcula- 
tion, I refuse to entertain a doubt that this army, which in January 
last defeated Bragg's superior numbers, cannot overwhelm his present 
greatly inferior forces. 

4. The most unfavorable course for us that Bragg could take, would 
be to fall back without giving us battle ; but this would be very disas- 
trous to him. Besides the loss of material of war, and the abandon- 
ment of the rich and abundant harvest, now nearly ripe in Central 
Tennessee, he would lose heavily by desertion. It is well known that 
a wide-spread dissatisfaction exists among his Kentucky and Tennes- 
see troops. They are already deserting in large numbers. A retreat 
would greatly increase both the desire and the opportunity for deser- 
tion, and would very materially reduce liis physical and moral strength. 
While it would lengthen our communication, it would give us posses- 
sion of McMinnville, and enable us to threaten Chattanooga and East 
Tennessee ; ard it would not be unreasonable to expect an eaily occu- 
pation of the former place. 

5. But the chances are more than even that a sudden and rapid 
movement would compel a general engagement, and the defeat of 
Bragg would be. in the highest degree, disastrous to the rebellion. 

6. The turbulent aspect of politics in the loyal States renders a 
decisive blow against the enemy, at this time, of the highest import- 
ance to the success of the government at the polls, and in the enforce- 
ment of the Conscript Act. 

7. The government and the War Department believe that this army 
ought to move upon the enemy. The army desire it, and the country 
is anxiously hoping for it. 

8. Our true objective point is the rebel army, whose last reserves 
are substantially in the field, and an effective blow will crush the shell, 
and soon be followed by the collapse of the rebel government. 

9. You have, in my judgment, wisely delayed a general movement 
hitherto, till your army could be massed, and your cavalry could be 
mounted. Your mobile force can now be concentrated in twenty-four 
hours, and your cavalry, if not equal in numerical strength to that of 
the enemy, is greatly superior in efficiency and morale. For this rea- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD, 1 85 

son I believe an immediate advance of all our available forces is ad- 
visable, and, under the providence of God, will be successful. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
J. A. GARFIELD, 

Brigadier-General, Chief of Staff. 
Major- General Rosecrans, 

Commanding Dep't. Cumberland. 

That the estimate which this biography has placed 
upon the character of General Garfield may not seem 
to be overdrawn, the following testimony given by a 
writer at Zenia, Ohio, in the autumn of 1862, is in- 
serted in these pages : 

" We have known General James A. Garfield for 
several years, and entertain for him the highest 
personal regard. He is one of the most eloquent 
men in Ohio, as well as one of the ripest scholars. 
Socially and morally he has no superior. He is 
popular with all, as the attachment of his scholars, as 
well as his soldiers, for him demonstrates. 

In respect to abilities, nature has by no means 
been unfriendly to him ; and he has neither de-spised 
nor slighted her gifts. A severe course of mental 
training, combined with the mental practice obtained 
by presiding over one of the colleges of Ohio, has 
fully developed his natural endowments. 

Above all these considerations, everyone respects 
General Garfield for his stern, unyielding, unconi- 
promising patriotism. The permanent good of his 
country, the restoration of its unity, and the perpet- 
uation of the national power and glory through all 
coming time, are the objects which he keeps steadily 
in view." 

For more than a year after his election to Congress, 
General Garfield kept the field, and without flinching 



1 86 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

endured the severest tests which come to the soldier 
in war. He lost no time and shirked no hardships. 
He bravely entered the most dangerous lines of 
battle when his duty called him there, and the num- 
ber of men killed at his side, and horses wounded or 
killed under him, attest his proximity to the enemy. 

In General Rosecran's official report of the battle 
of Chickamaugahe bears testimony to General Gar- 
field's soldierly qualities and said : 

*'To Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief 
of staff. I am especially indebted for the clear and 
ready manner in which he seized the points of action 
and movement, and expressed in orders the ideas of 
the general commanding." 

To this testimony the War Department put its seal 
by issuing to him a commission as major-general 
dated the day of that great battle. 

On December 5th, a few weeks after the battle and 
after General Rosecrans was relieved, General Gar- 
field resigned his commission and immediately took 
his seat in Congress. At the time he resigned, he 
felt that he was needed in Congress ; yet, his unwill- 
ingness to leave the service, nearly overcome his res- 
olution to take his seat in the House of Represen- 
tatives, and in November, before he left the army, he 
wrote to the President that were it not for the strong 
belief he had that the war would close within a few 
months, he should remain with the army. ' 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 8/ 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SERVICE AS A LEGISLATOR. 

A NEW FIELD. — THE HIGHEST TEST OF HUMAN GREATNESS. — THE 
AMERICAN CONGRESS. — FREQUENT FAILURES OF NOTED MEN. — 
THE TRIALS OF THAT CRISIS. —PLACED ON THE MILITARY COIVOIIT- 
TEE. — THE STYLE OF HIS SPEECHES. —HIS INDUSTRY. —HIS REPLY 
TO MR. LONG. — AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH. — THE COMPLEMENTS OF 
OLD MEMBERS. 

Hitherto we have noted the career of a man who, 
notwithstanding his surprising success, was neverthe- 
less a man among men, finding often his equal in the 
work which he had chosen. His childhood, youth, 
and army experience were such as to entitle him to 
the praise and thanks of the people, but thus far in 
common with many others. 

Thousands of boys have chopped wood, boiled salts, 
and drove canal horses and mules, and have 
succeeded in life, notwithstanding such humble be- 
ginnings. If it were not so, the history of his career 
would be a drawback rather than an encouragement 
to American youths. 

But now our record enters upon a higher plain, 
where the number of remarkable successes is far less 
and where many prosperous lives find their final 
level. In the legislative halls of a mighty nation 



1 88 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the ability and integrity of men find their severest 
tests. They may have enjoyed unUmited success 
from their cradle to the oath of office, but it is no 
guarantee of usefulness or fame in such a body as the 
American Congress. Great soldiers, with the scars 
of many battles and the fame of mighty conquerors, 
have entered the doors of the Capitol amid the ap- 
plause of an idolizing constituency, and have been 
immediately lost from sight, and soon from notice. 
Distinguished lawyers whose acquaintances regarded 
them as giants in the intellectual world, seem to become 
helpless and worthless as soon as they are lost in the 
crowd of talented men who gather at the Capitol. 
Scholars, poets, mathematicians, professors, preachers, 
railroad presidents, bankers, merchants, discoverers, 
inventors and millionaires, enter the legislative cham- 
bers with brilliant reputations and under the impetus 
of some great deed, only to be hid in a political fog, 
where they sit for a while in silent helplessness, and 
go home without a sign of welcome or approval. 

The story of Gen. Garfield's success in the legisla- 
tive department of the American nation, is the most 
interesting and the most remarkable part of the his- 
tory of his life. We have already seen how hisi 
qualities as a young man commended him to the 
respect and attention of the Senate of Ohio, and we 
shall see how quickly those same qualities lifted him 
above the mass of congressmen, and brought him 
into the notice of the nation. 

It must not be considered by the reader that,! 
because General Garfield was known to the Presi- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 89 

dent, and to some of the great captains of our army, 
and was loved and honored by the people of the 
Western Reserve, that he was known in the House 
of Representatives. There were hundreds of gener- 
als in the field whose names were far better known 
than that of Rosecrans' chief of staff. There were 
generals in the House of Representatives who had 
seen severer service, and whose deeds had been far 
wider proclaimed. There were old statesmen there 
whose hairs had grown white in the service of the 
nation. There were scholars of the highest reputa- 
tion, and orators whose words had become classic. 
Not a score of the whole assembly knew him by 
sight, or could recall his place of residence or past 
services when his name was called. 

It was a new start in life. In Congress, as in the 
back woods, he must overcome difficulties and fight 
his way alone. To win distinction there he must be 
something more than daring, truthful, and industri- 
ous ; he must possess that peculiar combination of 
strong talents and intellectual acuteness to which 
men somewhat vaguely apply the term, "greatness." 
To be eminently great in a nation of great men, and 
in a time when especial circumstances combined to 
I develop and disclose human nobility, required mas- 
j terly talents and incessant watchfulness. To be of 
unusual service to humanity and of exceptional value 
; to a nation, when twenty-five millions of people were 
, striving, at a fever heat, to do the same thing, is 
I something of which a man has reason to be proud. 
Such is General Garfield's record. He entered upon 



IQO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

his duties in Congress at a time when there were 
foes within and foes without ; when a strong army 
threatened the nation in the Southern States, and 
Great Britain menaced it from the ocean ; when the 
finances of the government were getting into an 
almost inextricable snarl ; when the people were 
searching for their greatest men, for councillors in 
the nation's peril and distress ; and when it required 
fortitude, wisdom and patriotism above the common 
order, to provide securely for the nation's future. 

For this work. General Garfield was well endowed 
by nature and education. He was a ready speaker, 
— apt, elegant, pointed, vehement. He had all the 
scholarship of the colleges, and more to draw upon. 
He had the practice of cultured public speaking. 
He had the experience of war, and a course of 
extensive reading from which to draw forcible and 
illuminating illustrations. He had all the physical 
characteristics of dignity, strength, countenance and 
voice, which are so useful in the public forum. 
Thus he was well equipped for a place in a deliberate 
assembly. But the growth of a member's influence, 
under the most favorable circumstances, is slow. 
He could not be a leader there until he had again 
and again displayed his ability for the post. He 
does not appear to have aspired to leadership ; but, 
from the first day of the session, set himself with 
stubborn purpose at the task of securing a complete 
knowledge of the rules and history of Congress. 

Then followed a study of the resources of the 
nation in men and money, and of the history of 



OF GENERAL JAMES A, GARFIELD. 



191 



Other countries, whose experience could throw any 
light, or give any suggestion to statesmen, in the 
complicated and perplexing trials of the union. His 
habits of incessant study served him well, and he 
always had a book in his hand or in his pocket, for 
use in any spare moment. His astonishing readi- 
ness in congressional debates upon any question of 
commerce, manufactures, finance, revenue, interna- 
tional law, or whatever came up, can be accounted 
for by this industrious habit. Never, idle himself. 




i!<uiie 




CAPITOL AT WASHI>GTON. 



and assisted by his wife, as only a talented, patient 
and affectionate woman of her unusual gifts can as- 
sist a man of letters, he steadily and heartily assisted 
the measures he thought were wise and good, and 
earnestly, and sometimes excitedly, opposed those 
actions which he deemed to be pernicious and 



He was given a place at once, upon his entry into 
Congress, on the very important committee on mil- 



192 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

itary affairs. His colleagues bear testimony to his 
activity, industry and efficiency, from the very begin- 
ning of his term. His speeches were often models 
of graceful oratory, and yet have about them none 
of that objectional air of conceit which would sug- 
gest that the speaker delivered them for any other 
purpose but to convince. 

Early in the Thirty-eighth Congress, in which Mr. 
Garfield first made his appearance as a congressman, 
Mr. Alexander Long of Ohio, made a long and 
labored argument, to show that it was useless to try 
further to coerce the South. The tendency of Mr. 
Long's speech was to encourage the rebellion and 
censure the patriots who attempted to preserve the 
union. To that speech General Garfield replied, 
without preparation, having taken the floor immedi- 
ately upon the completion of Mr. Long's address. 

*'Mr. Chairman," said he, " I should be obliged to 
you if you would direct the sergeant-at-arms to bring 
a white flag and plant it in the aisle between myself 
and my colleague who has just addressed you. 

I recollect on one occasion when two great armies 
stood face to face, that under a white flag just planted 
I approached a company of men dressed in the uni- 
form of the rebel confederacy and reached out my 
hand to one of the number and told him I respected 
him as a brave man. Though he wore the emblems 
of disloyalty and treason, still, underneath his vest- 
ments, I beheld a brave and honest soul. 

I would reproduce that scene here this afternoon, 
I say, were there such a flag of truce, — but God for- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 93 

give me if I should do it under any other circum- 
stances ! I would reach out this right hand and ask 
that gentleman to take it, because I honor his brav- 
ery and his honesty. I believe what has just fallen 
from his lips is the honest sentiment of his heart ; 
and, in uttering it he has made a new epoch in the 
history of this war ; he has done a new thing under 
the sun ; he has done a brave thing. It is braver 
than to face cannon and musketry, and I honor him 
for his candor and frankness. 

But now I ask you to take away the flag of truce, 
and I will go back inside the union lines and speak 
of what he has done. I am reminded by it of a dis- 
tinguished character in 'Paradise Lost.' When he 
had rebelled against the glory of God and ' led away 
a third part of heaven's sons, conjured against the 
Highest,' when after terrible battles in which mount- 
ains and hills were hurled by each contending host 
'with 'jaculations dire'; when at last the leader 
and his hosts were hurled down * nine times the 
space that measures day and night,' and after the 
terrible fall lay stretched prone on the burning lake, 
Satan lifted up his shattered bulk, crossed the abyss, 
looked down into Paradise, and, soliloquizing, said : 
' Which way I fly is hell, myself am hell.' 
It seems to me in that utterance he expressed the 
very sentiment to which you have just listened ; 
uttered by one no less brave, malign and fallen. 
This man gathers up the meaning of this great con- 
test, the philosophy of the moment, the prophecies 
of the hour, and, in sight of the paradise of victory 
13 



194 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and peace, utters them all in this wail of terrible 
despair, 'Which way I fly is hell.' He ought to 
add, ' Myself am hell.' 

Mr. Chairman, I am reminded of two characters 
in the war of the revolution as compared with two 
others in the war of to-day. 

The first was Lord Fairfax who dwelt near the 
Potomac, a few miles from us. When the great con- 
test was opened between the mother country and 
the colonies, Lord Fairfax, after a protracted strug- 
gle with his own heart, decided that he must go with 
the mother country. He gathered his mantle about 
him and went over, grandly, solemnly and impres- 
sively and joined the fortunes of Great Britain against 
the home of his adoption. 

But there was another man who cast in his lot 
with the struggling colonies, and continued with 
them till the war was well-nigh ended. But in a 
day of darkness, which just preceded the glory of 
the morning, that other man, deep down in the 
damned pits of his black heart, hatched the treason 
to surrender forever all that had been gained to the 
enemies of his country. Benedict Arnold was that 
man. 

Fairfax and Arnold find their parallel in the strug- 
gle of to-day. 

When this war began, many good men stood hesi- 
tating and doubting what they ought to do. Their 
doctrine of State rights, their sympathies, all they 
had ever loved and longed for, were in the South ; 
and after long and painful hesitation, some of them 



Li 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 95 

at last went with the enemies of the nation. At 
that time Robert E. Lee sat in his home across the 
river here doubting and delaying, and going off at 
last almost tearfully, to join the enemies of his 
country. He reminds me in some respects of Lord 
Fairfax, the stately royahst of the revolution. But 
now, when hundreds of thousands of brave souls 
have gone up to God under the shadow of the flag, 
and when thousands more, maimed and shattered in 
the contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of 
death ; now, when three years of terrific warfare 
have raged over us, when our armies have pushed 
the rebelhon back over mountains and rivers, and 
crowded it back into narrow Hmits, until a wall of 
fire girds it ; now, when the uplifted hand of a ma- 
jestic people is about to let fall the lightning of its 
conquering power upon the rebellion ; now, in the 
quiet of this hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a 
similar dark treason, there rises a Benedict Arnold 
and proposes to surrender us all up, body and spirit, 
the nation and the flag, its genius and its honor, 
now and forever, to the accursed traitors to our 
country. And that proposition comes — God for- 
give and pity my beloved State! — it comes from a 
citizen of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of 
Ohio. 

I implore you, brethren, in this House, not to 
believe that many such births ever gave pangs to 
my mother State such as she suflered when that 
traitor was born. 

[Suppressed applause and sensation.] I beg you 



196 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

not to believe that on the soil of that State another 
such growth has ever deformed the face of nature 
and darkened the light of God's day. [An audible 
whisper, 'Vallandigham.'] But ah! I am reminded 
there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio 
have carried me too far. I retract. I remember 
that only a few days since a political convention met 
at the capital of my State, and almost decided to 
select from just such material a Representative for 
the Democratic party in the coming contest ; and, 
to-day, what claim to be a majority of the Democracy 
of that State say that they have been cheated or 
they would have made that choice. I therefore 
sadly take back the boast in behalf of my native 
State. 

But, sir, I will forget States. We have something 
greater than States and State pride to be talked of 
here to-day. I will, if I can, dismiss feeling from my 
heart, and try to consider only what bears upon the 
logic of the speech to which we have just listened. 

First of all, the gentleman tells us that the right 
of secession is a constitutional right. I do not pro- 
pose to enter into the argument. I have expressed 
myself hitherto on State sovereignty and State rights, 
of which this proposition of his is the legitimate 
child. 

But the gentleman takes higher ground, and in 
that I agree with him, namely, that five million or 
eight mijlion people possess the right of revolution. 
Grant it ; we agree there. 

If fifty-nine men can make revolution successful, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 97 

they have the right of revolution. If one State 
wishes to break its connection with the federal gov- 
ernment, and does it by force, maintaining itself, it 
is an independent State. If the eleven Southern 
States are determined and resolved to leave the 
union, to secede, to revolutionize, and can maintain 
that revolution by force, they have the revolutionary 
right to do so. Grant it. I stand on that platform 
with the gentleman. And now the question comes. 
Is it our constitutional duty to let them do it ? That 
is the question ; and in order to reach it, I beg to 
call your attention not to an argument, but to the 
condition of affairs which would result from such 
action, the mere statement of which becomes the 
strongest possible argument. What does this gen- 
tleman propose ? Where will he draw the line of 
division ? If the rebels carry into successful seces- 
sion what they desire to carry ; if their revolution • 
envelops as many States as they intend it shall 
envelop ; if they draw the line where Isham G. 
Harris, the rebel governor of Tennessee, in the 
rebel camp near our lines, told Mr. Vallandigham 
they would draw it, — along the line of the Ohio and 
of the Potomac ; if they make good their statement 
to him, that they will ne^ er consent to any other 
line, then, I ask, what is the thing that the gentle- 
man proposes to do ? 

He proposes to leave to the United States a terri- 
tory reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
one hundred miles wide in the center! From Wells- 
ville, on the Ohio river, to Cleveland on the lakes, 



198 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

is one hundred miles. I ask you, Mr. Chairman, if 
there be a man here so insane as to suppose that the 
American people will allow their magnificent nation- 
al proportions to be shorn to so deformed a shape as 
this } 

I tell you — and I confess it here — that while I 
hope I have something of human courage, I have not 
enough to contemplate such a result. I am not 
brave enough to go to the brink of the precipice of 
successful secession, and look down into its damned 
abyss. If my vision were keen enough to pierce to 
its bottom, I would not dare to look. If there be a 
man here who dare contemplate such a scene, I look 
upon him either as the bravest of the sons of women, 
or as a downright madman. Secession to gain 
peace ! Secession is the tocsin of eternal war. 
There can be no end to such a war as will be inau- 
gurated if this thing be done. 

Suppose the policy of the gentleman were adopted] 
to-day. Let the order go forth ; sound the * recall 'j 
on your bugles, and let it ring from Texas to the fai 
Atlantic, and tell the armies to come back. Call 
the victorious legions back over the battle-fields of 
blood, forever now disgraced. Call them back, over 
the territory which they have conquered. Call them 
back, and let the minions of secession chase them 
with derision and jeers as they come. And then tell 
them that that man across the aisle, from the free 
State of Ohio, gave birth to the monstrous proposi- 
tion. Mr. Chairman, if such a word should be sent 
forth through the armies of the union, the wave of 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 99 

terrible vengeance that would sweep back over this 
land could never find a parallel in the records of his- 
tory. Almost in the moment of final victory, the 
'recall ' is sounded by a craven people not deserving 
freedom. We ought every man to be made a slave, 
should we sanction such a sentiment. 

The gentleman has told us there is no such thing 
as coercion justifiable under the constitution. I ask 
him for one moment to reflect that no statute ever 
was enforced without coercion. 

It is the basis of every law in the universe, — God's 
law as well as man's. A law is no law without co- 
ercion behind it. When a man has murdered his 
brother, coercion takes the murderer, tries him and 
hangs him. When you levy your taxes, coercion se- 
cures their collection ; it follows the shadow of the 
thief, and brings him to justice ; it accompanies your 
diplomacy to foreign courts, and backs the declaration 
of the nation's rights by a pledge of the nation's 
power. But when the life of that nation is imperiled, 
we are told that it has no coercive power against the 
parricides in its own bosom. Again, he tells us that 
oaths taken under the amnesty proclamation are 
good for nothing. 

The oath of Galileo, he says, was not binding up- 
on him. I am reminded of another oath that was 
taken ; but perhaps it, too, was an oath on the lips 
alone, to which the heart made no response. 

I remember to have stood in a line of nineteen men 
from Ohio, on that carpet yonder, on the first day of 
the session ; and I remember that, with uplifted hands 



200 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

before God, those nineteen took an oath to support 
and maintain the constitution of the United States ; 
and I remember that another oath was passed 
around, and each member signed it as provided by 
law, utterly repudiating the rebellion and its pre- 
tenses. Does the gentleman not blush to speak of 
Galileo's oath ? Was not his own its counterpart ? 

He says the union can never be restored because 
of the terrible hatred engendered by the war. To 
prove it, he quotes what some Southern man said a 
few years ago, that he knew no hatred between peo- 
ples in the world like that between the North and 
the South. And yet that North and South have been 
one nation for more than eighty years ! 

Have we seen in this contest anything more bitter 
than the wars of the Scottish border ? Have we 
seen anything bitterer than those terrible feuds in 
the days of Edward, when England and Scotland 
were the deadliest foes on earth ? And yet for cen- 
turies, those countries have been cemented in an in- 
dissoluble union that has made the British nation 
one of the proudest of the earth. 

I said a little while ago that I accepted the propo- 
sition of the gentleman that the rebels had the right 
of revolution ; and the decisive issue between us and 
the rebellion is, whether they shall revolutionize and 
destroy, or we shall subdue and preserve. 

We take the latter ground. We take the common 
weapons of war to meet them ; and if these be not 
sufficient, I would take any element which will over- 
whelm and destroy ; I would sacrifice the dearest 



i 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 20I 

and best beloved ; I would take all the old sanctions 
of law and the constitution and fling them to the 
winds, if necessary, rather than let the nation be 
broken in pieces and its people destroyed with end- 
less ruin. 

What is the constitution that these gentlemen are 
perpetually flinging in our faces, whenever we desire 
to strike hard blows against the rebellion ? It is the 
production of the American people. They made it, 
and the Creator is mightier than the creature. The 
power which made the constitution can also make 
other instruments to do its great work in the day of 
its dire necessity." 

This speech was so eloquently spoken, and was 
stamped with such sincerity, that old members of the 
House of Representatives gathered about him during 
its delivery, and greeted him with most flattering 
demonstrations of approval at its close. 



202 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER XV. 

EARLY SPEECHES. 

HIS POSITION CONCERNING THE DRAFT FOR THE ARMY. — DIFFERS 
WITH HIS OWN PARTY. — CONTENDS FOR FRANKNESS AND TRUTH. — 
HOPEFUL VIEW OF THE NATION'S SUCCESS.— NATIONAL CONSCIENCE 
AND SLAVERY. — BIVIANCIPATION THE REMEDY FOR NATIONAL 
EVILS. — DEFENCE OF GENERAL ROSECRANS. — TRIBUTE TO GENER- 
AL THOMAS. — HIS ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF CHICKAJVIAUGA. — 
THE DOCTRINE OF STATE RIGHTS. — CAMDEN AND AMBOY RAIL- 
ROAD VS. THE UNITED STATES. — WHAT IS THE POWER AND PRE- 
ROGATIVE OF THE NATION. 

During General Garfield's first session, there was 
much contention over the draft for the army, and the 
clause in the law which allowed persons who were 
drawn to commute their service by the payment of 
three hundred dollars. The speech which General 
Garfield made illustrates, better than any description 
could do, certain phases of his character and his 
manner as a public speaker. In this he was not con- 
tending so much with the Democratic party, as with 
those of his own party with whom he differed in re- 
gard to the wisdom Ox' the laws regulating the draft. 
He said : 

'' Mr. Speaker, it has never been my policy to con- 
ceal a truth, merely because it is unpleasant. It may 
be well to smile in the face of danger, but it is neither 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 203 

well nor wise to let danger approach unchallenged 
and unannounced. A brave nation, like a brave man, 
desires to see and measure the perils which threaten 
it. It is the right of the American people to know 
the necessities of the republic, when they are called 
upon to make sacrifices for it. It is this lack of con- 
fidence in ourselves and the people, this timid waiting 
for events to control us, when they should obey us, 
that makes men oscillate between hope and fear, — 
now in the sunshine of the hill-tops, and now in the 
gloom and shadows of the valley. To such men, the 
morning bulletin, which heralds success in the army, 
gives exultation and high hope ; the evening dis- 
patch, announcing some slight disaster to our advanc- 
ing columns, brings gloom and depression. Hope 
rises and falls by the accidents of war, as the mercury 
of the thermometer changes by the accidents of heat 
and cold. Let us rather take for our symbol the 
sailor's barometer, which faithfully forwarns him of 
ihe tempest, and gives him unerring promise of se- 
rene skies and peaceful seas. No man can deny that 
we have grounds for apprehension and anxiety. The 
unexampled magnitude of the contest, the enormous 
expenditures of the war, the unprecedented waste of 
battle, bringing sorrow to every loyal fireside, the 
courage, endurance and desperation of our enemy, 
the sympathy given him by the monarchies of the 
Old World, as they wait and hope or our destruction, 
all these considerations should make us anxious and 
earnest ; but they should not add one hue of despair 
to the face of an American citizen ; they should not 



204 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

abate a tittle of his heart and hope. The specters 
of defeat, bankruptcy and repudiation have stalked 
through this Chamber, evoked by those gentlemen 
who see no hope for the republic, in the arbitrament 
of war, no power in the justice of our cause, no peace 
made secure by the triumph of freedom and truth. 
Mr. Speaker, even at this late day of the session, I 
will beg the indulgence of the House, while I point 
out some of the grounds of our confidence in the final 
success of our cause, while I endeavor to show that, 
though beset with dangers, we still stand on firm 
earth ; and though the heavens are clouded, yet above 
storm and cloud the sun of our national hope shines 
with steady and undimmed splendor. History is 
constantly repeating itself, making only such changes 
of programme as the growth of nations and centuries 
requires. Such struggles as ours, and far greater 
ones, have occurred in other ages, and their records 
are written for us. I desire to refer to the example 
of our ancestors across the sea, in their great strug- 
gles at the close of the last and the beginning of the 
present century, to show what a brave nation can do 
when their liberties are in danger, and their national 
existence is at stake. 

^ * * * * * 

And can we, the descendants of such a people, 
with such a history and such an example before us, 
can we, dare we falter in a day like this .'* Dare we 
doubt } Should we not rather say, as Bolingbroke 
said to his people, in their hour of peril : ' Oh, woe 
to thee when doubt comes ; it blows like a wind from 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 205 

the north, and makes all thy joints to quake. Woe, 
indeed, be the statesmen who doubt the strength of 
their country, and stand in awe of the enemy with 
whom it is engaged.' At that same period, one of 
the greatest minds of England declared the three 
things necessary to her success : — 

1. To listen to no terms of peace till freedom and 
order were established in Europe. 

2. To fill up her army and perfect its organization. 

3. To secure the favor of Heaven, by putting away 
forever the crime of slavery and the slave trade. 

Can we learn a better lesson } Great Britain, in 
that same period, began the work which ended in 
breaking the fetters of all her bondsmen. She did 
maintain her armies and her finances, and she did 
triumph. We have begun to secure the approval of 
Heaven by doing justice, though long delayed, and 
securing to every human being in this republic free- 
dom, henceforth and forever. 

Mr. Speaker, it has long been my settled conviction 
that it was a part of the divine purpose to keep us 
under the pressure and grief of this war, until the 
conscience of the nation should be aroused to the 
enormity of its great crime against the black man, 
and full reparation should be made. We entered the 
struggle, a large majority insisting that slavery should 
be let alone, with a defiance almost blasphemous. 
Every movement toward the recognition of the ne- 
gro's manhood was resisted. Slowly, and at .a fright- 
ful cost of human lives, the nation has yielded its 
wicked and stubborn prejudices against him, till at 



206 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

last the blue coats cover more than one hundred 
thousand swarthy breasts, and the national banner is 
born in the smoke of battle by men lately loaded 
with chains, but now bearing the honors and emolu- 
ments of American soldiers. Dare we hope for final 
success till we give them the full protection of sol- 
diers ? Like the sins of mankind against God, the 
sin of slavery was so great that * without the shed- 
ding of blood there was no remission.' Shall we not 
secure the favor of Heaven by putting it completely 
away ? Shall we not fill up our armies ? Shall we 
not also triumph ? Was there, in the condition of 
England in 1812, a single element essential to success 
which we do not possess to-day ? 

* * * * :^ =^ 

If we will not learn a lesson, either from England 
or our revolutionary fathers, let us at least learn from 
our enemies. I have seen their gallantry in battle, 
their hoping against hope amid increasing disaster; 
and, traitors though they are, I am proud of their 
splendid courage, when I remember that they are 
Americans. Our army is equally brave, but our gov- 
ernment and Congress are far behind them in ear- 
nestness and energy. 

Until we go into the war with the same desperation 
and abandonment which mark their course, we do 
not deserve to succeed, and we shall not succeed. 
What have they done } What has their government 
done, — a government based, in the first place, on 
extreme State rights and State sovereignty, but 
which has become more centralized and despotic than 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 20/ 

the monarchies of Europe ? They have not only 
called for volunteers, but they have drafted. They 
have not only drafted, but cut off both commutation 
and substitution. They have gone further. They 
have adopted conscription proper — the old French 
conscription of 1797 — and have declared that every 
man between sixteen and sixty years of age is 
a soldier. But we stand here bartering blood for 
money, debating whether we will fight the enemies 
of the nation, or pay ^300 into its treasury. Mr. 
Speaker, with this brief review of the grounds of our 
hope, I now ask your attention to the main proposi- 
tion in the bill before the House, — the repeal of the 
commutation clause. Going back to the primary 
question of the power to raise armies, I lay it down 
as a fundamental proposition, as an inherent and 
necessary element of sovereignty, that a nation has 
a right to the personal service of its citizens. The 
stability and power of every sovereignty rest upon 
that basis." 

His fidelity to his friends and comrades led him to 
make another speech during his first session, which 
gives his opinion of his old chief, General Rosecrans, 
and also of General Thomas, and deserves a place in 
history. It was made upon a resolution of thanks to 
General Thomas, for his generalship in the battle of 
Chickamauga. 

"This resolution proposes to thank Major-General 
George H. Thomas and the officers and men under 
his command for gallant services in the battle of 
Chickamauga. It meets my hearty approval for 



20b THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

what it contains, but my protest for what it does not 
contain. I should be. recreant to my own sense of 
justice did I allow this omission to pass without no- 
tice. No man here is ready to say, — and if there be 
such a man I am ready to meet him, — that the 
thanks of this Congress are not due to Major-General 
W. S. Rosecrans, for the campaign which culminated 
in the battle of Chickamauga. It is not uncommon 
throughout the press of the country, and many peo- 
ple, to speak of that battle as a disaster to the army 
of the United States, and to treat it as a defeat. If 
that battle was a defeat, we may welcome a hundred 
such defeats. I should be glad if each of our armies 
would repeat Chickamauga. Twenty such would de- 
stroy the rebel army and the confederacy, utterly and 
forever. What was that battle, terminating as it did 
a great campaign, whose object was to drive the rebel 
army beyond the Tennessee, and to obtain a foothold 
on the south bank of that river, which should form 
the basis of future operations in the Gulf States ? 
We had never yet crossed that river, except far be- 
low, in the neighborhood of Corinth. Chattanooga 
was a gateway of the Cumberland mountains, and 
until we crossed the river and held the gateway, we 
could not commence operations in Georgia. The 
army was ordered to cross the river, to grasp and 
hold the key of the Cumberland mountains. It did 
cross, in the face of superior numbers ; and after 
two days of fighting, more terrible, I believe, than 
any since this war began, the army of the Cumber- 
land hurled back, discomfited and repulsed, the com- 



i 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 209 

bined power of three rebel armies, gained the key to 
the Cumberland mountains, gained Chattanooga, and 
held it against every assault. If there has been a 
, more substantial success against overwhelming odds, 
since this war began, I have not heard of it. We 
; have had victories — God be thanked — -all along the 
j line, but in the history of this war I know of no such 
I battle against such numbers ; forty thousand against 
an army of not less by a man than seventy-five thou- 
sand. After the disaster to the right wing, in the 
last bloody afternoon of September 20th, twenty-five 
i thousand men of the army of the Cumberland stood 
I and met seventy-five thousand hurled against them. 
i And they stood in their bloody tracks, immovable 
j and victorious, when night threw its mantle around 
I them. They had repelled the last assault of the 
rebel army. Who commanded the army of the Cum- 
j berland .? Who organized, disciplined and led it ? 
Who planned its campaigns.'' The general whose 
I name is omitted in this resolution — Major-General 

W. S. Rosecrans. 
I And who is this General Rosecrans.^ The history 
I of the country tells you, and your children know 
I it by heart. It is he who fought battles and won 
victories in Western Virginia, under the shadow of 
another's name. When the poetic pretender claimed 
the honor and received the reward as the author of 
Virgil's stanza in praise of Caesar, the great Mantuan 
wrote on the walls of the imperial palace : 
'Hoc ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.' 
14 



210 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

So might the hero of Rich mountain say, * I won 
this battle, but another has worn the laurels.' 

' From Western Virginia he went to Mississippi, 
and there won the battles of luka and Corinth, which 
have aided materially to exalt the fame of that gener- 
al, upon whom this House has been in such haste to 
confer the proud rank of lieutenant-general of the 
army of the United States, but who was not upon 
either of these battle-fields. 

Who took command of the army of the Cumber- 
land, found that army at Bowling Green, in Novem- 
ber, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheartened, driven 
back from Alabama and Tennessee, and led it across 
the Cumberland, planted it in Nashville, and thence, 
on the first day of the new^ year, planted his banners 
at Murfreesboro', in torrents of blood, and at the mo- 
ment of our extremest peril, throwing himself into 
the breech, saved by his personal valor the army of 
the Cumberland and the hopes of the republic ? It 
was General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed 
the command at Bowling Green, the history of that 
army may be written in one sentence, — it has ad- 
vanced, and maintained its advanced position, and its 
last campaign, under the general it loved, was the 
bloodiest and most brilliant. The fruits of Chicka- 
mauga were gathered in November, on the bights of 
Mission Ridge and among the clouds of Lookout 
mountain. That battle at Chattanooga was a glorious 
one, and every loyal heart is proud of it. But, sir, it 
v/as won when we had nearly three times the number 
of the enemy. It ought to have been won. Thank 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 211 

God that it was won. I would take no laurel from 
the brow of the man who won it ; but I would remind 
gentlemen here that while the battle of Chattanooga 
was fought with vastly superior numbers on our part, 
the battle of Chickamauga was fought with still vaster 
superiority against us. 

If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, it 
is the man who is named in this resolution, General 
George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in my remarks 
on the conscription bill, a few days ago, to refer to 
him in such terms as I delighted to use; and I say 
to gentlemen here that if there is any man whose 
heart would be hurt by the passage of this resolution 
as it now stands, that man is General George H. 
Thomas. I know, and all know, that he deserves 
well of his country, and his name ought to be re- 
corded in letters of gold; but I know equally well 
that General Rosecrans deserves well of his country. 
I ask you, then, not to pain the heart of a noble man, 
who will be burdened with the weight of these 
thanks, that wrong his brother officer and his supe- 
rior in command. All I ask is that you will put both 
names into the resolution, and let them stand side by 
side." 

When the important question arose in Congress 
concerning a through line of railroad from Washing- 
i ton to New York, there was considerable opposition 
■ from the Camden and Amboy railroad, and from the 
'officials of the New Jersey State government, and 
I the question whether the State of New Jersey had 
the right to prohibit the construction of a national 



212 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

railroad, became somewhat interesting. Upon that 
question he said : 

" Mr. Speaker, this Ufts our subject above corpora- 
tions and monopolies to the full hight of a national 
question ; I might almost call it a question of loyalty 
or disloyalty. I have only to say in regard to the 
language of this proclamation that if his Excellency 
had consulted Calhoun and his resolution of 1833, he 
would have its doctrines stated much more ably and 
elegantly. He calls upon the Legislature of New 
Jersey to inquire whether this bill will take away 
any of the revenue of the State, and how it will affect 
the sovereign rights of New Jersey. He says New 
Jersey is a sovereign State. I pause there for a mo- 
ment. Mr. Coleridge somewhere says that abstract 
definitions have done more harm in the world than 
plague and famine and war. I believe it. I believe 
that no man will ever be able to chronicle all the 
evils that have resulted to this nation from the abuse 
of the words * sovereign' and 'sovereignty/ What 
is this thing called State 'sovereignty.''' Nothing 
more false was ever uttered in the halls of legislation 
than that any State of this union is sovereign Con- 
sult the elementary text-books of law and refresh 
your recollection of the definition of ' sovereignty. 
Speaking of the sovereignty of nations Blackstom 
says : 

* However they began, by what right soever the] 
subsist, there is and must be in all of them a suprem^ 
irresistible, absolute uncontrolled authority in whicl 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 213 

\\\QJura summi imperii or rights of sovereignty re- 
nsted! 

Do these elements belong \.oany State of this re- 
public ? Sovereignty has the right to declare war. 
Can New Jersey declare war ? It has the right to 
conclude peace. Can New Jersey conclude peace ? 
Sovereignty has the right to coin money. If the 
Legislature of New Jersey should authorize and 
command one of its citizens to coin a half dollar, that 
man if he made it, though it should be of solid silver, 
would be locked up in a felon's cell for the crime of 
counterfeiting the coin of the real sovereign. ^ A 
sovereign has the right to make treaties with foreign 
nations. Has New Jersey the right to make treaties ? 
Sovereignty is clothed with the right to regulate 
commerce with foreign States. New Jersey has no 
such right. Sovereignty has the right to put ships 
in commission upon the high seas. Should a ship 
set sail under the authority of New Jersey it would 
be seized as a smuggler, forfeited and sold. Sovereign 
ty has a flag. But, thank God, New Jersey has no 
flag ; Ohio has no flag. No loyal State fights under 
the 'lone star,' the 'rattlesnake,' or the 'pal- 
metto tree.' No loyal State of this union has any 
flag but 'the banner of beauty and glory,' the flag 

of the union. 

These are the indispensable elements of sovereign- 
:ty. New Jersey has not one of them. The term 
' cannot be applied to the separate States, only in a 
I very limited and restricted sense, referring mamly to 

municipal and police re ulations. The ri hts of the 



214 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

States should be jealously guarded and defended. 
But to claim that sovereignty, in its full sense and 
meaning, belongs to the States, is nothing better than 
rankest treason. Look again at thisdocument of the 
governor of New Jersey. He tells you that the 
States entered into the 'national compact.' National 
compact ! I had supposed that no governor of a loyal 
State would parade this dogma of nullification and 
secession, which was killed and buried by Webster 
on the i6th of February, 1833. There was no such 
thing as a sovereign State making a compact called a 
constitution. The very language of the constitution 
is decisive : 'We, the people of the United States, 
do ordain and establish this constitution.' The 
States did not make a compact to be broken when 
any one pleased, but the people ordained and estab- 
lished the constitution of a sovereign republic ; and 
woe be to any corporation or State that raises its 
hand against the majesty and power of this great 
nation." 

This proclamation closes with a determination to 
resist this legislation of Congress. This itself is 
another reason why I ask this Congress to exercise 
its right to rebuke this resurrected spirit of nullifica- 
tion. The gentleman from Pennsylviania (Mr. Broo- 
mall) tells us that New Jersey is a loyal State, and 
her citizens are in the army. T am proud of all the 
citizens of New Jersey who are fighting in our army. 
They are not fighting for New Jersey, but for the 
union ; and when it is once restored, I do not believe 
these men will fight for the Camden and Amboy 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 215 

monopoly. Their hearts have been enlarged, and 
there are patriotic men in New Jersey in the army 
and at home, who are groaning under this tyrannical 
monopoly, and they come up here and ask to strike off 
the shackles that bind them ; and I hold it to be 
right and duty of this body to strike off their fetters, 
let them go free. 



2l6 THE LIFE. SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER XVI 

EULOGIES OF NOTED MEN. 

TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN. — THE ANNIVERSARY OF MR. LINCOLN'S DEATH. 

— THE CAUSE OF THE ASSASSINATION. — THE EFFECT OF HIS DEATH. 

— A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE. — ORATION ON CARPENTER'S PAINTING. 

— SIGNING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. — ITS PLACE IN 
HISTORY. — JOHN WINTHROP AND SAMUEL ADAMS. — THE GIFT OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. — GENERAL GARFIELD'S TRIBUTE TO NEW ENG- 
LAND. — THE LESSON OF SELF-RESTRAINT. — REMARKS UPON THE 
DEATH OF SENATOR MORTON. 

On the first anniversary of the death of Abraham 
Lincoln, and during General Garfield's third year of 
service in the House of Representatives, Congress 
adjourned for the day as a mark of respect for the 
martyr President's memory. General Garfield was 
selected to make the motion to adjourn, and in so 
doing, was selected to make a short address. It was 
one of the most cultured, thoughtful and appropriate 
addresses to be found in the vast collection of patri- 
otic speeches, which remain to this generation from 
the days of war and reconstruction. 

" I desire " said he, " to move that this House do 
now adjourn. And before the vote upon that motion 
is taken I desire to say a few words. This day, Mr. 
Speaker, will be sadly memorable so long as this 
nation shall endure, which God grant may be Hill 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 217 

the last syllable of recorded time,' when the volume 
of human history shall be sealed up and delivered to 
the omnipotent Judge. In all future time, on the 
recurrence of this day, I doubt not that the citizens 
of this republic will meet in solemn assembly to 
reflect on the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, 
and the awful tragic event of April 14, 1865, — an 
event unparalleled in the history of nations, certainly 
unparalleled in our own. It is eminently proper 
that this House should this day place upon its records 
a memorial of that event. The last five years have 
been marked by wonderful developments of individ- 
ual character. Thousands of our people, before un ■ 
known to fame, have taken their places in history, 
crowned with immortal honors. In thousands of 
humble homes are dwelling heroes and patriots 
whose names shall never die. But greatest among 
all these great developments were the character and 
fame of Abraham Lincoln whose loss the nation still 
deplores. His character is aptly described in the 
words of England's great laureate — written thirty 
years ago — in which he traces the upward steps of 
some 

* Divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began, 
And on a simple village green ; 

' Who breaks his birth's invidious bar. 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance. 
And breasts the blow of circumstance, 
And grapples with his evil star ; 

* Who makes by force his merit known, 
And lives to clutch the golden keys. 



2l8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

To mold a mighty State's decrees, 
And shape the whisper ol the throne ; 

' And moving up from high to higher, 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope, 
The pillar of a People's hope, 
The center of a world's desire.' 

Such a life and character will be treasured forever 
as the sacred possession of the American people and 
of mankind. In the great drama of the rebellion 
there were two acts. The first was the war with its 
battles and sieges, victories and defeats, its suffer- 
ings and tears. 

That act was closing one year ago to-night, and 
just as the curtain was lifting on the second and 
final act, — the restoration of peace and liberty, — 
just as the curtain was rising upon new characters 
and new events, the evil spirit of the rebellion, in 
the fury of despair, nerved and directed the hand of 
the assassin to strike down the chief character in 
both. It was no one man who killed Abraham Lin- 
coln ; it was the embodied spirit of treason and 
slavery, inspired with fearful, despairing hate, that 
struck him down in the moment of the nation's 
supremest joy. 

Ah, sir, there are times in the history of men 
and nations, when they stand so near the veil that 
separates mortals from the immortals, time from 
eternity, and men from their God, that they can 
almost hear the beatings, and feel the pulsations of 
the heart of the Infinite. Through such a time has 
this nation passed. When two hundred and fiftv 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 219 

thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor, 
through that thin veil, to the presence of God ; and 
when at last its parting folds admitted the martyr 
President to the company of the dead heroes of the 
republic, the nation stood so near the veil, that the 
whispers of God were heard by the children of men. 
Awe-stricken by his voice, the American people 
knelt in tearful reverence, and made a solemn cove- 
nant with Him, and with each other, that their 
nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its 
glories should be restored, and on the ruins of slav- 
ery and treason, the temple of freedom and justice 
should be built, and should survive forever. It re- 
mains for us, consecrated by that great event, and 
under a covenant with God, to keep that faith, to go 
forward in the great work until it shall be completed. 
Following the lead of that great man, and obeying 
the high behests of God, let us remember that, — 

* He that sounded forth a trumpet that shall never call retreat; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat ; 
Be swift my soul to answer him ; be jubilant my feet ; 
For God is marching on. ' " 

To the eulogy of 1866, he added another in 1878, 
which should be preserved for future generations to 
read. 

On the 1 6th of January, 1878, he introduced into 

the House of Representatives the following joint 

' resolution, which was adopted without a division. It 

was subsequently adopted by the Senate, and was 

[ approved by the President, February i, 1878 : 

Whereas, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson of New York 



220 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

city has tendered to Congress Carpenter's painting 
of President Lincoln and his Cabinet, at the time of 
his first reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation : 
Therefore, 

Resolvedly the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Cojigress assembled. 
That said painting is hereby accepted in the name of 
the people of the United States ; and the thanks of 
Congress are tendered to the donor for her generous 
and patriotic gift. 

And be it fnfther resolved. That the Joint Commit- 
tee on the Library are hereby instructed to make 
arrangements for the formal presentation of said 
painting to Congress, on Tuesday, the twelfth of 
February next ; and said committee shall cause said 
painting to be placed in an appropriate and conspicu- 
ous place in the Capitol, and shall carefully provide 
for its preservation. 

A7id be it further resolved, That the President is 
requested to cause a copy of these resolutions to be 
forwarded to Mrs. Thompson. 

In pursuance of its provisions, the hour of two 
o'clock, p. M., Tuesday, February I2th, was fixed for 
the formal presentation and acceptance of the paint- 
ing, and Mr. Garfield said : — 

'* Mr. President : By the order of the Senate and 
the House, and on behalf of the donor, Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Thompson, it is made my pleasant duty to de- 
liver to Congress the painting which is now unveiled. 
It is the patriotic gift of an American woman whose 
years have been devoted to gentle and generous 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 221 

charities, and to the instruction and elevation of the 
laboring poor. 

Believing that the perpetuity and glory of her 
country depend upon the dignity of labor and the 
equal freedom of all its people, she has come to the 
Capitol, to place in the perpetual custody of the na- 
tion, as the symbol of her faith, the representation of 
that great act which proclaimed ' liberty throughout 
all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' 

Inspired by the same sentiment, the representa- 
tives of the nation have opened the doors of this 
Chamber to receive at her hands the sacred trust. 
In coming hither, these living representatives have 
passed under the dome and through that beautiful 
and venerable hall which, on another occasion, I have 
ventured to call the third House of American repre- 
sentatives, that silent assembly whose members have 
received their high credentials at the impartial hand 
of history. Year by year, we see the circle of its 
immortal membership enlarging; year by year, we 
see the elect of their country, in eloquent silence, 
taking their places in this American pantheon, bring- 
ing within its sacred precincts the wealth of those 
immortal memories which made their lives illustrious; 
and year by year, that august assembly is teaching 
deeper and grander lessons to those who serve in 
these more ephemeral Houses of Congress. 

Among the paintings, hitherto assigned to places 
within the Capitol, are two which mark events for- 
ever memorable in the history of mankind ; thrice 
memorable in the history of America. 



222 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The first is the painting by Vanderlyn, which rep- 
resents, though with inadequate force, the great dis- 
covery which gave to the civilized world a new hem- 
isphere. 

The second, by Trumbull, represents that great 
Declaration which banished forever from our shores 
the crown and scepter of imperial power, and proposed 
to found a new nation upon the broad and enduring 
basis of liberty. 

To-day, we place upon our walls this votive tablet, 
which commemorates the third great act in the his- 
tory of America — the fulfillment of the promises of 
the Declaration. 

Concerning the causes which led to that act, the 
motives which inspired it, the necessities which com- 
pelled it, and the consequences which followed and 
are yet to follow it, there have been, there are, and 
still will be great and honest differences of opinion. 
Perhaps we are yet too near the great events of which 
this act formed so conspicuous a part, to understand 
its deep significance and to foresee its far-off conse- 
quences. 

The lesson of history is rarely learned by the act- 
ors themselves, especially when they read it by the 
fierce and dusky light of war, or amid the deeper 
shadows of those sorrows which war brings to both. 
But the unanimous voice of this House in favor of I 
accepting the gift, and the impressive scenes we here 
witness, bear eloquent testimony to the transcendent 
importance of the event portrayed on yonder canvas. 

Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 223 

In force of character, in thoroughness and breadth 
of culture, in experience of public affairs, and in na- 
tional reputation, the Cabinet that sat around that 
council-board has had no superior, perhaps no equal, 
in our history. Seward, the finished scholar,'the 
consummate orator, the great leader of the Senate, 
had come to crown his career with those achieve- 
ments which placed him in the first rank of modern 
diplomatists. Chase, with a culture and a frame of 
massive grandeur, stood as the rock and pillar of the 
public credit, the noble embodiment of the public 
faith. Stanton was there, a very Titan of strength, 
the great organizer of victory. Eminent lawyers, 
men of business, leaders of States and leaders of men 
completed the group. 

But the man who presided over that council, who 
inspired and guided its deliberations, was a character 
so unique that he stood alone, without a model in 
history or a parallel among men. Born on this day, 
sixty-nine years ago, to an inheritance of extremest 
poverty ; surrounded by the rude forces of the wil- 
derness ; wholly unaided by parents ; only one year 
in any school ; never, for a day, master of his own 
time, until he reached his majority ; making his w^ay 
to the profession of law by the hardest and roughest 
road ; yet by force of unconquerable will and persist- 
ent, patient work, he attained a foremost place in his 
profession 

And, moving up from high to higher, 
Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 
The piilar of a people's hope. 

The center of a world's desire. 



224 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

At first, it was the prevailing belief that he would 
be only the nominal head of his administration ; that 
its policy would be directed by the eminent states- 
men he had called to his council. How erroneous 
this opinion was, may be seen from a single incident : 

Among the earliest, most difficult, and most deli- 
cate duties of his administration, was the adjustment 
of our relations with Great Britain. Serious compli- 
cations, even hostilities, were apprehended. On the 
2 1 St of May, 1861, the Secretary of State presented 
to the President his draught of a letter of instructions 
to Minister Adams, in which the position of the 
United States and the attitude of Great Britain were 
set forth with the clearness and force, which long ex- 
perience and great ability had placed at the command 
of the secretary. 

Upon almost every page of that original draught 
are erasures, additions and marginal notes, in the 
hand-writing of Abraham Lincoln, which exhibit a 
sagacity, a breadth of wisdom, and a comprehension 
of the whole subject, impossible to be found except 
in a man of the very first order. And these modifi- 
cations of a great State paper were made by a man 
who, but three months before, had entered, for the 
first time, the wide theatre of executive action. 

Gifted with an insight and a foresight which the 
ancients would have called divinition, he saw, in the 
midst of darkness and obscurity, the logic of events, 
and forecasted the result. From the first, in his own 
quaint, original way, without ostentation or ofiense 
to his associates, he was pilot and commander of his 
15 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 225 

j administration. He was one of the few great rulers 
I whose wisdom increased with his power, and whose 
spirit grew gentler and tenderer as his triumphs were 
i multiplied. 

\ This was the man, and those his associates, who 
! look down upon us from the canvas. 

The present is not a fitting occasion to examine, 
with any completeness, the causes that led to the 
f proclamation of emancipation ; but the peculiar rela- 
I tion of that act to the character of Abraham Lincoln 
I cannot be understood, without considering one re- 
markable fact in his history. 

His earlier years were passed in a region remote 
from the centers of political thought, and without 
access to the great world of books. But the few 
books that came within his reach, he devoured with 
the divine hunger of genius. One paper, above all 
others, led him captive, and filled his spirit with the 
majesty of its truth and the sublimity of its eloquence. 
It was the Declaration of American Independence — 
the liberty and equality of all men. Long before his 
fame had become national, he said : 

That is the electric cord in the Declaration, that 
links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men 
together, and that will link such hearts as long as the 
love of liberty exists in the minds of men throughout 
the world. 

That truth runs, like a thread of gold, through the 
whole web of his political life. It was the spear- 
point of his logic, in his debates with Douglas. It 
was the inspiring theme of his remarkable speech at 



226 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the Cooper Institute, which gave him the nomination 
to the presidency. It filled him with reverent awe 
when, on his way to the capital, to enter the shadows 
of the terrible conflict then impending, he uttered, in 
Carpenter's Hall, at Philadelphia, these remarkable 
words, which were prophecy then, but are history 
now : 

I have never had a feeling, politically, that did 
not spring from the sentiments embodied in the 
Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered 
over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
who assembled here and framed and adopted that 
Declaration. I ha^e pondered over the toils that were 
endured by the officers and soldiers of the army 
who achieved that independence. I have often in- 
quired of myself what great principle or idea it was 
that kept this confederacy so long together. It was 
not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies 
from the mother land, but that sentiment in the Dec- 
laration of Independence, which gave liberty, not 
alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the 
world, for all future time. It was that which gave 
promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted 
from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment 
embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, 
my friends, can this country be saved on that basis ? 
If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest 
men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can- 
not be saved upon that principle, it will be truly 
awful. But if this country cannot be saved without 
giving up that principle, I was about to say, / would 
rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. 

Deep and strong was his devotion to liberty ; yet 
deeper and stronger still was his devotion to the 



• OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 22/ 

union, for he believed that without the union, perma- 
nent liberty for either race on this continent would 
be impossible. And because of this belief, he was 
reluctant, perhaps more reluctant than most of his 
associates, to strike slavery with the sword. For 
many months, the passionate appeals of millions of 
his associates seemed not to move him. He listened 
to all the phases of the discussion, and stated, in 
language clearer and stronger than any opponent had 
used, the dangers, the difficulties and the possible 
futility of the act. 

In reference to its practical wisdom. Congress, the 
Cabinet and the country were divided. Several of 
his generals had proclaimed the freedom of slaves 
within the limits of their commands. The President 
revoked their proclamations. His first Secretary of 
War had inserted a paragraph in his annual report, 
advocating a similar policy. The President sup- 
pressed it. 

On the 19th of August, 1862, Horace Greeley pub- 
lished a letter, addressed to the President, entitled 
'The Prayer of Twenty Millions,' in which he said: 

On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, 
there is not one disinterested, determined, intelligent 
champion of the union cause who does not feel that 
all attempts to put down the rebellion, and at the 
same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous 
and futile. 

To this the President responded in that ever- 
memorable dispatch of August 22, in which he said : 

If there be those who would not save the union 



228 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do 
not agree with them. 

If there be those who would not save the union 
unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I 
do not agree with them. 

My paramount object is to save the union, and 
not either to save or destroy slavery. 

If I could save the union without freeing any slave, 
I would do it , if I could save it by freeing all the 
slaves, I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing 
some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 

What I do about slavery and the colored race, I 
do because I believe it helps to save the union ; and 
what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it 
helps to save the union. I shall do less whenever I 
believe that what I am doing hurts the cause ; and I 
shall do more whenever I believe doing more will 
help the cause. 

Thus, against all importunities on the one hand, 
and remonstrances on the other, he took the mighty 
question to his own heart, and, during the long 
months of that terrible battle-summer, wrestled with 
it alone. 

But at length, he realized the saving truth, that 
great, unsettled questions have no pity for the repose 
of nations. 

On the 22d of September, he summoned his Cabi- 
net to announce his conclusion. It was my good 
fortune, on that same day, and a few hours after the 
meeting, to hear, from the lips of one who partici- 
pated, the story of the scene. 

As the chiefs of the executive departments came 
in one by one, they found the President reading a 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 229 

favorite chapter from a popular humorist. He was 
lightening the weight of the great burden which 
rested upon his spirit. He finished the chapter, 
reading it aloud. And here I quote from the pub- 
lished journal of the late chief -justice, an entry, 
written immediately after the meeting, and bearing 
unmistakable evidence that it is almost a literal 
transcript of Lincoln's words : 

The President then took a graver tone, and said : 
" Gentlemen, I have, as you are aware, thought a 
great deal about the relation of this war to slavery ; 
and you all remember that, several weeks ago, I read 
to you an order I had prepared upon the subject, 
which, on account of objections made by some of 
you, was not issued. Ever since then, my mind has 
been much occupied with this subject, and I have 
thought all along that the time for acting upon it 
might probably come. I think the time has come 
now. I wish it was a better time. I wish that we 
were in a better condition. The action of the army 
against the rebels has not been quite what I should 
have best liked, but they have been driven out of 
Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger 
of invasion. 

When the rebel army was at Frederick, I deter- 
mined, as soon as it should be driven out of Mary- 
land, to issue a proclamation of emancipation, such 
as I thought most likely to be useful. I said nothing 
to any one, but I made a promise to myself and (hes- 
itating a little) to my Maker. The rebel army is now 
driven out, and I am going to fulfill that promise. I 
have got you together to hear what I have written 
down. I do not wish your advice about the main 
matter, for that I have determined for myself. This 
I say, without intending anything but respect for any 



230 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

one of you. But I already know the views of each 
upon this question. They have been heretofore ex- 
pressed, and I have considered them as thoroughly 
and carefully as I can. What I have written is that 
which my reflections have determined me to say. If 
there is anything in the expressions I use, or in any 
minor matter which any one of you think had best 
be changed, I shall be glad to receive your sugges- 
tions. One other observation I will make. I know 
very well that many others might, in this matter as 
in others, do better than I can ; and if I was satis- 
fied that the public confidence was more fully pos- 
sessed by any one of them than by me, and knew of 
any constitutional way in which he could be put in 
my place, he should have it. I would gladly yield to 
him. But though I believe I have not so much of 
the confidence of the people as I had some time 
since, I do not know that, all things considered, any 
other person has more ; and, however this may be, 
there is no way in which I can have any other man 
put where I am. I am here ; I must do the best I 
can, and bear the responsibility of taking the course 
which I feel I ought to take." 

The President then proceeded to read his Emanci- 
pation Proclamation, making remarks on the several 
parts as he went on, and showing that he had fully 
considered the subject in all the lights under which 
it had been presented to him. 

The proclamation was amended in a few matters 
of detail. It was signed and published that day. 
The world knows the rest, and will not forget it till 
' the last syllable of recorded time.' 

In the painting before us, the artist has chosen 
the moment when the reading of the proclamation 
was finished, and the Secretary of State was offering 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 23 T 

his first suggestion. I profess no skill in the subtle 
mysteries of art criticism. I can only say of a paint- 
ing, what the painting says to me. I know not what 
this may say to others ; but to me, it tells the whole 
story of the scene, in the silent and pathetic language 
of art. 

We value the Trumbull picture of the Declaration, 
— that promise and prophecy of which this act was 
the fulfillment, — because many of its portraits were 
taken from actual life. This picture is a faithful 
reproduction, not only of the scene, but its accesso- 
ries. It was painted at the executive mansion, under 
the eye of Mr. Lincoln, who sat with the artist dur- 
ing many days of genial companionship, and aided 
him in arranging the many details of the picture. 

The severely plain chamber, not now used for 
cabinet councils ; the plain marble mantel, with the 
portrait of a hero president above it ; the council- 
table, at which Jackson and his successor had presid- 
ed ; the old-fashioned chairs ; the books and maps ; 
the captured sword, with its pathetic history ; — all are 
there, as they were, in fact, fifteen years ago. But 
what is of more consequence, the portraits are true 
to the life. Mr. Seward said of the painting, ' It is 
a vivid representation of the scene, with portraits of 
rare fidelity ; ' and so said all his associates. 

Without this painting, the scene could not even 
now be reproduced. The room has been remodeled ; 
its furniture is gone ; and death has been sitting in 
that council, calling the roll of its members in quick 
succession. Yesterday, he added another name to 



232 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

his fatal list ; and to-day, he has left upon the earth 
but a single witness of the signing of the proclama- 
tion of emancipation. 

With reverence and patriotic love, the artist ac- 
complished his work ; with patriotic love and rever- 
ent faith, the donor presents it to the nation. In 
the spirit of both, let the re-united nation receive it 
and cherish it forever." 

One of the most popular of General Garfield's 
eulogies, was upon John Winthrop and Samuel Adams, 
and was delivered December 19, 1876, the House 
then having under consideration the following res- 
olution : — 

In the Senate of the United States. 
December 19, 1876. 

Resolved by the Senate, {the House of Representa- 
tives concurring}) I. That the statues of John Win- 
throp and Samuel Adams are accepted in the name 
of the United States, and that the thanks of Congress 
are given to the State of Massachusetts for these 
memorials of two of her eminent citizens, whose names 
are indissolub'y associated with the foundation of the 
republic. 

2. That a copy of these resolutions, engrossed upon 
parchment and duly authenticated, be transmitted to 
the governor of Massachusetts. 

Attest : Geo. C. Gorham, 

By W. J. McDonald, Chief Clerk. 

He said: — '' Mr. Speaker, I regret that illness has 
made it impossible for me to keep the promise, which 
I made a few days since, to offer some reflections 
appropriate to this very interesting occasion. But I 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 233 

cannot let the moment pass without expressing my 
great satisfaction with the fitting and instructive 
choice which the State of Massachusetts has made, 
and the manner in which her Representatives have 
discharged their duty in presenting these beautiful 
works of art to the Congress of the nation. 

As, from time to time, our venerable and beautiful 
Hall has been peopled with statues of the elect of 
the States, it has seemed to me that a third House 
was being organized within the walls of the Capitol 
— a House whose members have received their high 
credentials at the hands of history, and whose term 
of office will outlast the ages. Year by year, we see 
the circle of its immortal m.embership enlarging; 
year by year, we see the elect of their country, in 
eloquent silence, taking their places in this American 
pantheon, bringing within its sacred circle the wealth 
of those immortal memories, which made their lives 
illustrious ; and, year by year, that august assembly 
is teaching a deeper and grander lesson to all who 
serve their brief hour in these more ephemeral 
Houses of Congress. And now, two places of great 
honor have just been most nobly filled. 

I can well understand that the State of Massachu- 
setts, embarrassed by her wealth of historic gbry, 
found it difficult to make the selection. And while 
the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Hoar) was so fittingly honoring his State, by 
portraying that happy embarrassment, I was reflect- 
ing that the sister State of Virginia will encounter, 
if possible, a still greater difficulty when she comes 



234 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

to make the selection of her immortals. One name 
I venture to hope she will not select, — a name too 
great for the glory of any one State, I trust she will 
allow us to claim Washington as belonging to all the 
States, for all time. If she shall pass over the great 
distance that separates Washington from all others, 
I can hardly imagine how she will make the choice 
from her crowded roll. But I have no doubt that 
she will be able to select two who will represent the 
great phases of her history, as happily and worthily as 
Massachusetts is represented, in the choice she has 
to-day announced. It is difficult to imagine a happier 
combination of great and beneficent forces, than will 
be presented by the representative heroes of t^hese 
two great States. 

Viririnia and Massachusetts were the two focai 

o 

centers from which sprang the life-forces of this 
republic. There were, in many ways, complements 
of each other, each supplying what the other lacked, 
and both uniting to endow the republic with its 
noblest and most enduring qualities. 

To-day, the House has listened with the deepest 
interest to the statement of those elements of price- 
less value contributed by the State of Massachusetts. 
We have been instructed by the clear and masterly 
analysis of the spirit and character of that Puritan 
civilization, so fully embodied in the lives of VVinthrop 
and Adams. I will venture to add, that, notwith- 
standing all the neglect and contempt with which 
England regarded her Puritans, two hundred years 
ago, the tendency of thought in modern England is 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 235 

to do justice to that great force which created the 
the Commonwealth, and finally made the British 
Islands a land of liberty and law. Even the great 
historian Hume was compelled reluctantly to declare 
that— 

The precious spark of liberty had been kindled and 
was preserved by the Puritans alone ; and it was to 
this sect that the English owe the whole freedom 
of their constitution. 

What higher praise can posterity bestow upon any 
people than to make such a confession } Having 
done so much to save liberty alive in the mother 
country, the Puritans planted, upon the shores of this 
New World, that remarkable civilization whose growth 
is the greatness and glory of our republic. 

Indeed, before Winthrop and his company landed 
at Salem, the Pilgrims were laying the foundation of 
civil liberty. While the Mayflower was passing Cape 
Cod, and seeking an anchorage, in the midst of the 
storm, her brave passengers sat down in the little 
cabin, and drafted and signed a covenant which con- 
tains the germ of American liberty. How familiar 
to the American habit of mind are these declarations 
of the Pilgrim covenant of 1620, — 

That no act, imposition, law, or ordinance be made 
or imposed upon us at present, or to come, but such 
as has been or shall be enacted by the consent of the 
body of free men or associates, or their representa- 
tives, legally assembled. 

TheNewEngland town was the model, the primary 
cell, from which our republic was evolved. The 



236 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

town meeting was the germ of all the parliamentary 
life and habits of Americans. 

John Winthrop brought with him the more formal 
organization of New England society ; and, in his 
long and useful life, did more than perhaps any other 
to direct and strengthen its growth. 

Nothing, therefore, could be more fitting, than for 
Massachusetts to place in our Memorial Hall the 
statue of the first of the Puritans, representing him 
at the moment when he was stepping on shore from 
the ship that brought him from England, and bear- 
ing with him the charter of that first political society 
which laid the foundations of our country ; and that 
near him should stand that Puritan embodiment of 
the logic of the revolution, Samuel Adams. I am 
glad to see this decisive, though tardy, acknowledg- 
ment of his great and signal services to America. I 
doubt if any man equaled Samuel Adams in formu- 
lating and uttering the fierce, clear and inexorable 
logic of the revolution. With our present habits of 
thought, we can hardly realize how great were the 
obstacles to overcome. Not the least was the religious 
belief of the fathers — that allegiance to rulers was 
obedience to God. The thirteenth chapter of Ro- 
mans was to many minds a barrier against revolution 
stronger than the battalions of George III., — 

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
For there is no power but of God ; the powers that 
be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore re-; 
sisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. 

And it was not until the people of that religious 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 237 

a,^e were led to see that they might obey God and 
still establish liberty, in spite of kingly despotism, 
that they were willing to engage in war against one 
who called himself ' king by the grace of God.' 
The men who pointed out the pathway to freedom by 
the light of religion as well as of law, were the fore- 
most promoters of American independence. And 
of these, Adams was unquestionably chief. 

It must not be forgotten that, while Samuel Adams 
was writing the great argument of liberty in Boston, 
almost at the same time, Patrick Henry was formulat- 
ing the same doctrines in Virginia. It is one of the 
grandest facts of that grand time that the colonies 
were thus brought, by an almost universal consent, 
to tread the same pathway, and reach the same great 
conclusions. 

But most remarkable of all is the fact that, through- 
out all that period, filled as it is was with the revolu- 
tionary spirit, the great men who guided the storm, 
exhibited the most wonderful power of self-restraint. 
If I were to-day to state the single quality that appears 
to me most admirable among the fathers of the revo- 
lution, I should say it was this : that amidst all the 
passions of war, waged against a perfidious enemy from 
beyond the sea, aided by a savage enemy on our own 
shores, our fathers exhibited so wonderful a restraint, 
so great a care to observe the forms of law, to protect 
the rights of the minority, to preserve all those great 
rights that had come down to them from the common 
law, so that when they had achieved their independ- 
ence, they were still a law-abiding people. 



23S THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

In that fiery meeting in the old South church, after 
the Boston massacre, when, as the gentleman from 
Massachusetts has said, three thousand voices almost 
lifted the roof from the church, in demanding the re- 
moval of the regiments, it is noted by the historian 
that there was one, solitary, sturdy ^nay' in the 
vast assemblage ; and Samuel Adams scrupulously 
recorded the fact that there was one dissentient. It 
would have been a mortal offense against his notions 
of justice and good order, if that one dissentient had 
not had his place in the record. And, after the 
regiments had been removed, and after the demand 
had been acceded to that the soldiers who had fired 
upon citizens should be delivered over to the civil 
authorities, to be dealt with according to law, Adams 
was the first to insist and demand that the best legal 
talent in the colony should be put forward to defend 
those murderers ; and John Adams and Josiah Ouincy 
were detailed for the purpose of defending them. 
Men were detailed whose hearts and souls were on 
fire with the love of the popular cause ; but the men 
of Massachusetts would have despised the two advo- 
cates, if they had not given their whole strength to 
the defense of the soldiers. 

Mr. Speaker, this great lesson of self restraint is 
taught in the whole history of the revolution ; and 
it is this lesson that to-day, more perhaps, than any 
other we have seen, we ought to take most to heart. 
Let us seek liberty and peace, under the law ; and, j 
following the pathway of our fathers, preserve the 
great legacy they have committed to our keeping." 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 239 

Among other addresses made in Congress, upon 
the death of Senator Morton of Indiana, General 
Garfield delivered the following : 

" For all the great professions known among 
Americans, special training-schools have been estab- 
lished and encouraged by law, except that of states- 
manship. And yet no profession requires for its 
successful pursuit a wider range of general and 
special knowledge, or a more thorough and varied 
culture. 

Probably no American youth, unless we except 
John Quincy Adams, was ever trained with special 
reference to the political service of his country. In 
monarchial governments, not only wealth and rank, 
but political authority descends, by inheritance, from 
father to son. The eldest son of an English peer 
knows from his earliest childhood that a seat awaits 
him in the House of Lords. If he be capable and am- 
bitious, the dreams of his boyhood and the studies 
of his youth are directed toward the great field of 
statesmanship. To the favored few, this system 
affords many and great advantages, and upon the un- 
titled many, whom 'birth's invidious bar' shuts out 
from the highest places of power, it must rest with 
discouraging weight. 

Our institutions confer special privileges upon no 
citizen, and, we may now say, they erect no barrier 
in the honorable career of the humblest American. 
'They open an equal pathway for all, and invite the 
• worthiest to the highest seats. The fountains of our 
strength, as a nation, spring from the private life and 



240 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the voluntary efforts of forty-five millions of people. 
Each for himself confronts the problem of life, and 
amid its varied conditions develops the forces with 
which God has endowed him. Meantime, the nation 
moves on in its great orbit, with a life and destiny of 
its own, each year calling to its aid those qualities 
and forces which are needed for its preservation 
and its glory. Now, it needs the prudence of the 
counselor, now, the wisdom of the law-giver, and 
now, the shield of the warrior to cover its heart in 
the day of battle. And when the hour and the man 
have met, and the needed work has been done, the 
nation crowns her heroes, and makes them her own 
forever. Such hours we ha\'e often seen during the 
last seventeen years, — hours which have called forth 
the great elements of manhood and strength from 
the ranks of our people, and crowded our pantheon I 
with new accessions of glory. Seventeen years ago, 
at a moment of supreme peril, the nation called upon 
the people of twenty-two States to meet around her 
altar and defend her life. Of all the noble men who 
responded to that call, no voice rang out with morei 
clearness than that of Oliver P. Morton, the young 
governor of Indiana. He was then but thirty-seven 
years of age. Self-made, as all men are who are 
worth the making, he had risen from a hard life o* 
narrow conditions by fighting his own way, thinking 
his own thoughts, and uttering them without fear 
until, by the fortune of political life, he had become 
the chief executive of his State. He saw at once' 
and declared the terrible significance of the impend 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 24 1 

ing Struggle, and threw his whole weight into the 
conflict. His State and my own marched abreast in 
generous emulation. 

But he was surrounded by difficulties and dangers 
which hardly found a parallel in any other State. 
With unconquerable will, and the energy of a Titan, 
he encountered and overcame them all ; and keeping 
Indiana in line with the foremost, he justly earned 
the title of one of the greatest war governors of that 
heroic period. Thus, the great need of the nation 
called forth and fixed in the enduring colors of fame 
those high qualities which those thirty-seven years 
of private life had been preparing. To learn the 
lesson of his great life, let us recall briefly its leading 
characteristics. 

He was a great organizer. He knew how to evoke 
and direct the enthusiasm of his people. He knew 
how to combine and marshall his forces, political or 
military, so as to concentrate them all upon a single 
object, and inspire them with his own ardor. I have 
often compared him with Stanton, our great War Sec- 
retary, whose windows at the war office, for many 
years, far into the night, shone out * like battle-lan- 
terns ht,' while he mustered great armies and 
launched them into the tempest of war, and ' organ- 
ized victory.' In the whole circle of the States, no 
organizer stood nearer to him in character and quali- 
ties and friendship, than Oliver P. Morton, 
i His force of will was most masterful. It was not 
I mere stubbornness, or pride of opinion, which weak 
I and narrow men mistake for firmness. But it was 
16 



242 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

that Stout-hearted persistency which, having once in- 
telligently chosen an object, pursues it through sun- 
shine and storm, undaunted by difficulties, and unter- 
rified by danger. 

He possessed an intellect of remarkable clearness 
and force. With keen analysis, he found the core of 
a question, and worked from the center outward. 
He cared little for the mere graces of speech ; but 
few men have been so greatly endowed with the 
power of clear statement and unassailable argument. 
The path of his thought was straight — 

Like that of the swift cannon ball, 
Shattering that it may reach, and 
Shattering what it reaches. 

When he had hit the mark, he used no additional 
words, and sought for no decoration. These quali- 
ties, joined to his power of thinking quickly, placed 
him in the front rank of debaters, and every year in- 
creased his power. It has been said that Senator 
Morton was a partisan, a strong partisan, and this is 
true. In the estimation of some, this detracts from 
his fame. That evils arise from extreme partisanship, 
there can be no doubt. But it should not be forgot- 
ten that all free governments are party governments. 
Our great Americans have been great partisans. 
Senator Morton was not more partisan than Adams, 
Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Marshall, 
Taney and Chase. Strong men must have strong 
convictions, and ' one man with a belief is a greater 
power than a thousand that have only interests.' 



OP GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 243 

Partisanship is opinion crystallized, and party organi- 
zations are the scaffoldings whereon citizens stand 
while they build up the walls of their national tem- 
ple. Organizations may change or dissolve, but when 
parties cease to exist, liberty will perish. In conclu- 
sion, let me say, the memory of Governor Morton 
will be forever cherished and honored by the soldiers 
of my State. They fought side by side with the sol- 
diers of Indiana, and in a hundred glorious fields his 
name was the battle-cry of the noble regiments which 
he had organized and inspired with his own lofty 
spirit. 

To the nation he has left the legacy of his patriot- 
ism, and the example of a great eventful life." 

General Garfield's speeches upon the tariff, which 
were, perhaps, the ablest production of his brain, are 
not included here, as they are necessarily so long, 
and so full of statistics, of no interest to the general 
reader. His position was that of a conservative and 
careful protector of American industry, avoiding the 
extremes of either free trade or wholesale protection. 



244 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



I 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PERIOD OF UNPOPULARITY, 

HIS PRACTICE OF LAW. — HIS FIRST CASE I>r THE SUPREME COURT. — 
HIS SUCCESS AS A LAWYER. — UNPOPULARITY OF HIS DEFENSE OF 
REBELS IN COURT. — HIS CONNECTION WITH A MATTER CALLED THE 
DE GOLYER PAVEMENT CASE. — HOW HE WAS MALIGNED. — PER- 
SISTENCY OF ENEMIES.— THE GREAT CREDIT MOBILIER CASE. — 
VINDICATION OF GENERAL GARFIELD. — HIS STORY OF HIS DEAL- 
INGS WITH OAKES AMES. — HIS OPPOSITION TO THE INCREASE OF 
SALARIES IN CONGRESS. — THE CENSURE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS. — 
HIS EXPLANATION. — RESTORATION TO PUBLIC FAVOR. 

No great or good man ever served a capricious 
public without disheartening trials, and periods of 
unpopularity. Such experiences are often the test 
of a man's ability and integrity. In the history of 
General Garfield's Congressional career, however, his 
loss of public favor was due, in each instance, to a 
misunderstanding of the facts, on the part of the peo- 
ple. When his actions and positions on public meas- 
ure were fully understood by the people, he was at 
once restored to favor and applause. 

One cause of the first noticeable ebb in the public 
regard, which the student of his life observes, was the 
natural result of his practice of law. 

He was a Congressman before he ever tried a case 
in court ; and his experience as an attorney is perhaps 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 245 

an exception to that of any other lawyer, inasmuch 
as his first case was in the Supreme Court of the 
United States. He never had a case in any other 
court. 

His first appearance in the Supreme Court was in 
behalf of some conspirators who had been tried by 
court-martial, and condemned t death, for engaging 
in a movement to assist the rebellion. They were 
tried by martial law in a State, in time of peace de 
facto in the State, and in a section of State not under 
martial law. The legal question was, whether any 
military body had such power under the circum- 
stances. Should the civil power be ignored in time 
of peace, or in sections of the country where martial 
law had not been proclaimed.? It was a case for 
which he received no pay, and was undertaken as a 
test of this important principle. 

He was sustained by the Court and complimented 
by the presiding justice for his able presentation of 
the case and the law, while the criminals were set at 
liberty. No sooner had the news of his interference 
in behalf of condemned rebels reached his district in 
Ohio, than the indignant voters loudly proclaimed 
his ''treachery to his party and to the nation." In 
the following election, the great majority, with which 
he had always been elected, fell off more than a thou- 
sand votes, because of his supposed espousal of the 
cause of rebellious criminals. 

Other cases followed with occasionally alike result, 
from which he easily recovered, but which, for the 
time, annoyed him and disturbed his district. 



246 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

His practice in the Supreme Court increased very 
rapidly, and there was a time when he could have 
left his seat in Congress and entered upon a practice 
which would soon have made him rich. As it was, 
the income he thus derived was of great use to him, 
for his great generosity and thoughtlessness of self 
kept him almost incessantly in financial straits. He 
wasted no money on himself or his family ; but he 
had rather pay a bill himself, than to ask another 
person, who owed it, for the money ; and he gave to 
almost every good enterprise that came to his notice. 
He was often called upon to act as attorney for 
corporations and contractors, whose applications for 
money or privileges were to come before Congress ; 
and though it was considered honorable by many 
Congressmen to act in such cases, provided the attor- 
ney refused to vote when the measure came before 
Congress, yet invariably, did General Garfield refuse 
such applications, and rejected the large fees which 
many statesmen thought it perfectly honorable for 
him to receive. 

In 1873, General Garfield was called upon, by an 
attorney in Washington, to appear for him in a matter 
which the attorney (Mr. Parsons) said would not re- 
quire much attention. The attorney being retained 
in the case, and being obliged to be absent when the 
matter was to come up, naturally sought some other 
attorney to temporarily take his place. 

The matter to be attended to, in this instance, was 
a hearing before the Board of public works in Wash- 
ington, concerning the durability of a wooden pave- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 247 

ment, on which Messrs. De Golyer and McLellan held 
a patent. 

General Garfield knew nothing about the pave- 
ment, and but little about the men ; and knowing that 
he was to appear, as a matter of form, for another, 
he attended one hearing, where the questions of 
durability and material were the only ones discussed. 
Having performed this act of courtesy he dis- 
missed the matter wholly from his mind. Some 
months afterwards, to his great surprise, the contract 
which was made between the patentees and the city, 
after the hearing upon the durability of the pave- 
ment, and with which he had nothing to do, came up 
in Congress, with the charge and appearance that 
the contract — not the pavement — was a great 
swindle. Immediately, the fact that he had, at one 
time, in some way, and somewhere, appeared as at- 
torney for the patentees was noticed in the public 
press, and became the cause of a great uproar, 
and of much disgraceful abuse. 

The charges that he was connected with the fraud 
were, for several years, proclaimed by some of the 
newspapers .of the Democratic party, notwithstanding 
his complete vindication by the committee of investi- 
gation. 

So much was said about it, that the Hon. J. M. 
Wilson, chairman of the Congressional committee of 
investigation, felt called upon to publish the following 
letter : 

There was not in my opinion, any evidence that 



248 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

would have warranted any unfavorable criticism upon 
his conduct. 

The facts disclosed by the evidence, so far as he 
was concerned, are briefly these : 

The Board of public works was considering the 
question, as to the kind of pavements that should be 
laid. There was a contest as to the respective merits 
of various wooden pavements. Mr. Parsons repre- 
sented, as attorney, the De Golyer & McLellan pa- 
tent, and being called away from Washington about 
the time the hearing was to be had before the Board 
of public works, on this subject, procured Geneial 
Garfield to appear before the Board in his stead, and 
argue the merits of this patent. This he did ; and 
this was the whole of his connection in the matter. It 
was not a question as to the kind of contract that 
should be made, but as to whether this particular 
kind of pavement should be laid. The criticism of 
the committee was not upon the pavement, in favor 
of which General Garfield argued, but was upon the 
contract made with reference to it ; and there was no 
evidence which would warrant the conclusion that he 
had anything to do with the latter. 

Very respectfully, 

J. M. Wilson. 

But the matter which made the greatest pubUc 
scandal was the mention of his name, at one time, in 
connection with the great Credit Mobilier in the 
construction of the Union Pacific railroad. 

So completely was the scandal silenced, and so 
straightforward and open was General Garfield's 
course, that the re-action soon came in his favor, and 
that which, for a time, threatened to ruin him, fell 
harmless at his feet. His life of truthfulness and his 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 249 

unstained reputation for integrity and honor were of 
great value to him, when all his political opponents, 
with great glee, paraded his connection with the 
Credit Mobilier,derisively shouting, " Christian States- 
man ! " " moral patriot ! " &c. So clearly did he show 
the innocence of his dealings with Mr. Oakes Ames, 
and so clearly show that he could have had no con- 
nection with any fraudulent schemes, that the record 
of the matter has now no historical value, except as 
showing how curiously public men may be beset, and 
how strangely misunderstood. General Garfield has 
given an account of the whole case, and it shows a 
most interesting chapter of our national history. 
This he made voluntarily, and to it always adheres. 

General Garfield's history of the case, in a some- 
what condensed form, is as follows : 

" In the autumn of 1872, during the excitement of 
the Presidential campaign, charges of the most seri- 
ous character were made against ten or twelve per- 
sons who were then, or had recently been. Senators 
and Representatives in Congress, to the effect that, 
five years ago, they had sold themselves for sundry 
amounts of stock of the Credit Mobilier company, 
and bonds of the Pacific railroad company. The 
price at which different members were alleged to 
have bartered away their personal honor and their 
official influence was definitely set down in the news- 
papers ; their guilt was assumed, and the public ven- 
geance was invoked not only upon them, but also 
upon the party to which most of them belonged. 



250 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

By a resolution of the House, introduced by one 
of the members, and adopted on the first day of the 
session, an investigation of these charges was ordered. 
The parties themselves and many other witnesses 
were examined ; the records of the Credit Mobilier 
company and of the Pacific railroad company were 
produced ; and the results of the investigation were 
reported to the House on the i8th of February. 
The report, with the accompanying testimony, was 
brought up in the House for consideration on the 
25th of February, and the discussion was continued 
until the subject was finally disposed of, three days 
before the close of the session. The investigation 
was scarcely begun, before it was manifest that the 
original charge, that stock was given to members as 
a consideration for their votes, was wholly abandoned, 
there being no proof whatever to support it. 

But the charge assumed a new form, namely : That 
the stock had been sold to members at a price known 
to be greatly below its actual value, for the purpose 
of securing their legislative influence in favor of 
those who were managing the Pacific railroad. Eight 
of those against whom charges had been made in 
the public press, myself among the number, were 
still members of the House of Representatives, and 
were specially mentioned in the report. The com- 
mittee recommended the adoption of resolutions for 
the expulsion of Messrs. Ames atid Brooks, the lat- 
ter on charges in no way connected with Mr. Ames 
or the other members mentioned. They recom- 
mended the expulsion of Mr. Ames for an attempt 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 25 I 

to influence the votes and decisions of members of 
Congress, by interesting them in the stock of the 
Credit Mobilier, and through it, in the stock of the 
Union Pacific railroad. They found that though 
Mr. Ames in no case disclosed his purpose to these 
members, yet he hoped so to enlist their interest that 
they would be inclined to favor the Pacific railroad 
and its interest, and that he declared to the managers 
of the Credit Mobilier company at the time, that he 
was thus using the stock which had been placed in 
his hands by the company. 

Concerning the members to whom he had sold, or 
oflered to sell, the stock, the committee say that they 
'do not find that Mr. Ames, in his negotiations with 
the persons above named, entered into any detail of 
the relations between the Credit Mobilier company 
and the Union Pacific company, or gave them any 
specific information, as to the amount of dividends 
they would be likely to receive, further than has been 
already stated, [viz., that in some cases he had guar- 
anteed a profit of ten per cent.] * * ■^- They do 
not find, as to the members of the present House 
above named, that they were aware of the object of 
Mr. Ames, or that they had any other purpose in 
taking this stock than to make a profitable invest- 
ment. ^ ^ * They have not been able to find 
that any of these members of Congress have been af- 
fected in their official action in consequence of inter- 
est in the Credit Mobilier stock. * * * They 
do not find that either of the above named gentlemen 



252 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in contracting with Mr. Ames had any corrupt motive 
himself, or was aware Mr. Ames had any. Nor did 
either of them suppose he was guilty of any impro- 
priety, or even indelicacy, in becoming a purchaser 
of this stock.' And finally, that ' the committee find 
nothing in the conduct or motives of either of these 
members in taking this stock, that calls for any rec- 
ommendation by the committee of the House.' 

In the case of each of the six members just referred 
to, the committee sum up the results of the testimo- 
ny, and from that summary the conclusions above 
quoted are drawn. In regard to me, the committee 
find, that in December, 1867, or January, 1868, I 
agreed to purchase ten shares of Credit Mobilier 
stock of Mr. Ames, for $1,000, and the accrued inter- 
est from the previous July; that in June, 1868, Mr. 
Ames paid me a check on the Sergeant-at-Arms of 
the House for $329, as a balance of dividends on the 
siock, above the purchase price and accrued interest ; 
and that thereafter, there were no payments or other 
transactions between us, or any communication on 
the subject until the investigation began in Decem- 
ber last. 

I took the first opportunity offered by the comple- 
tion of public business to call the attention of the 
House to the above summary of the testimony in 
reference to me. On the 3d of March I made the 
following remarks, in the House of Representatives, 
as recorded in the Congressional Globe for that day: 

I rise to a personal explanation. During the late 
investigation by the committee, of which the gentle- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 253 

man from Vermont was chairman, I pursued what 
seemed to be the plain path of duty, to keep silence 
except when I was called upon to testify before the 
committee. When testimony was given which ap- 
peared to be in conflict with mine, I waited, expect- 
ing to be called again, if anything was needed from 
me in reference to these discrepancies. I was not 
recalled ; and when the committee submitted their 
report to the House, a considerable portion of the 
testimony relating to me had not been printed. 

In the discussion which followed here, I was pre- 
pared to submit some additional facts and considera- 
tions, in case my own conduct came up for consid- 
eration in the House ; but the whole subject was 
concluded without any direct reference to myself, 
and since then the whole time of the House has been 
occupied with the public business. I now desire to 
make a single remark on this subject in the hearing 
of the House. Though the committee acquitted me 
of all charges of corruption in action or intent, yet 
there is in the report a summing up of the facts in 
relation to me which I respectfully protest is not war- 
ranted by the testimony. I say this with the utmost 
respect for the committee, and without intending any 
reflection upon them. 

I cannot now enter upon the discussion ; but I 
propose, before long, to make a statement to the 
public, setting forth more fully the grounds of my 
dissent from the summing up to which I have re- 
ferred. I will only say now that the testimony which 
I gave before the committee is a statement of the 
facts in the case as I have understood them from the 
beginning. More than three years ago, on at least 
two occasions, I stated the case to two personal 
friends, substantially as I stated it before the com- 
mittee; and I here add that nothing in my conduct 
or conversation has at any time been in conflict with 



254 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

my testimony. For the present I desire only to 
place on record this declaration and notice. 

In pursuance of this notice, I shall consider so 
much of the history of the Credit Mobilier company 
as has any relation to myself. To render the discus- 
sion intelligible, I will first state briefly the offenses 
which that corporation committed, as found by the 
committees of the House. . 

The Credit Mobilier company is a corporation or- 
ganized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, 
and authorized by its charter to purchase and sell 
various kinds of securities, and to make advances of 
money and credit to railroad, and other improvement 
companies. Its charter describes a class of business, 
which, if honestly conducted, any citizen may prop- 
erly engage in. 

On the i6th of August, 1867, Mr. Oakes Ames 
made a contract with the Union Pacific railroad 
company to build six hundred and sixty-seven miles 
of road, from the one hundredth meridian westward, 
at rates ranging from ;^42,ooo to $96,000 per mile. 
For executing this contract he was .to receive in 
the aggregate $47,925,000, in cash, or in the securi- 
ties of the company. 

On the 15th of October, 1867, a triple contract was 
made between Mr. Ames of the first part, seven per- 
sons as trustees of the second part, and the Credit 
Mobilier company of the third part, by the terms of 
which the Credit Mobilier company was to advance 
money to build the road, and to receive thereon 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 255 

seven per cent, interest, and two and one-half per 
cent, commission ; the seven trustees were to execute 
the Ames contract, and the profits thereon were to 
be divided among them, and such other stockholders 
of the Credit Mobilier company as should deliver to 
them an irrevocable proxy to vote the stock of the 
Union Pacific held by them. The principal stock- 
holders of the Credit Mobilier company were also 
holders of a majority of the stock of the Union Pacif- 
ic railroad. 

On the face of this agreement, the part to be per- 
formed by the Credit Mobilier company as a corpo- 
ration was simple and unobjectionable. It was to 
advance money to the contractors, and to receive 
therefore about ten per cent, as interest and commis« 
sion. This explains how it was that, in a suit in the 
courts of Pennsylvania, in 1870, to collect the State 
tax on the profits of the company, its managers swore 
that the company had never declared dividends to an 
aggregate of more than twelve per cent. The com- 
pany proper did not receive the profits of the Oakes 
Ames contract. The profits were paid only to the 
seven trustees, and to such stockholders of the Credit 
Mobilier as had delivered to them the proxies on 
their Pacific railroad stock. In other words, a few 
men inside the Credit Mobilier obtained the control, 
both of that corporation and of the profits of the Ames 
contract. 

By a private agreement, made in writing, October 
i 16, 1867, the day after the triple contract was signed, 
the seven trustees pledged themselves to each other 



256 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

SO to vote all the Pacific railroad stock which they 
held in their own right, or by proxy, as to keep in 
power all the rriembers of the then existing board of 
directors of the railroad company not appointed by 
the President of the United States, or such other 
persons as said board should nominate. By this 
agrreement, the election of a majority of the directors 
was wholly within the power of the seven trustees. 
From all this it resulted that the Ames contract and 
the triple agreement, made in October, amounted, 
in fact, to a contract made by seven leading stock- 
holders of the Pacific railroad company with them- 
selves ; so that the men who fixed the price at which 
the road was to be built were the same men who 
woul-d receive the profits of the contract. 

[It would appear by General Garfield's statement 
above, that he must have given the matter consid- 
erable study, as he would naturally do after the 
subject was so prominently before the public; but 
it now appears pretty certain that through excite- 
ment or lack of financial skill, there was scarcely 
a person in the country in 1872 outside of that 
board -of directors who did comprehend its compli- 
cated business transactions, or realized the finan- 
cial risk the principal stockholders had to encoun- 
ter.] 

The Credit Mobilier company had already been 
engaged in various enterprises before the connection 
with the Ames contract. George Francis Train had 
once been the principal owner of its franchises, and 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2 5/ 

it had owned some western lands ; (Wilson's Report, 
pp. 497-8 ;) but its enterprises had not been very 
remunerative, and its stock had not been worth par. 
The triple contract of October, 1867, gave it at once 
considerable additional value. It should be borne in 
mind, however, that the relations of the Credit Mo- 
bilier company to the seven trustees, to the Oakes 
Ames' contract, and to the Pacific railroad company, 
were known to but few persons until long afterward, 
and that it was for the interest of the parties to keep 
them secret Indeed, nothing was known of it to the 
general public until the facts were brought out in 
the recent investigations. 

In view of the facts above stated, it is evident that 
a purchaser of such shares of Credit Mobilier stock, 
as were brought under the operation of the triple 
contract, would be a sharer in the profits derived by 
that arrangement from the assets of the Pacific rail- 
road, a large part of which consisted of bonds and 
lands granted to the road by the United States. The 
holding of such stock by a member of Congress would 
depend for its moral qualities wholly upon the fact 
whether he did or did not know of any arrangement 
out of which unjust profits would come. If he knew of 
any fraudulent arrangement by which the bonds and 
lands of tae United States, delivered to the Union 
Pacific railroad company for the purpose of construct- 
ing its road, were to be paid out at enormously ex- 
travagant rates, and the proceeds to be paid out as 
dividends to a ring of stockholders made by the Credit 
Mobilier company, he could not, with any propriety, 
17 



258 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

hold such stock, or agree to hold it, or any of its pro- 
ceeds. And for a member of Congress believing 
such was the case, to hold under advisement a propo- 
sition to buy this stock, would be morally as wrong 
as to hold it and receive the profits upon it. If it was 
morally wrong to purchase it, it was morally wrong to 
hesitate whether to purchase it or not. 

I put the case on the highest ethical ground, and 
ask that this rule be applied in all its severity in 
judging of my relation to this subject. 

The committee found, as already stated, that none 
of the six members to whom Mr, Ames sold, or pro- 
posed to sell, the stock, knew of any clandestine ar- 
rangement. I shall, however, discuss the subject onl \' 
in so far as relates to me, and shall undertake to es- 
tablish three propositions: 

First. That I never purchased, nor agreed to puv- 
chase,^ the stock, nor received any of its dividends. 

Second. That though an offer was made, which I 
had some time under advisement, to sell me ^1,000 
worth of the stock, I did not then know, nor had I 
the means of knowing, the conditions with which 
the stock was connected, or the method by which its 
profits were to be made. 

Third. That my testimony before the committee 
is a statement of the facts as I have always under- 
stood them ; and that neither before the committee, | 
nor elsewhere, has there been, on my part, any pre-j 
varication or evasion on the subject. 

My testimony was delivered before the investigat- 
ing committee on the 14th of January. That portion 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 259 

which precedes the cross-examination, I had written 
out soon after the committee was appointed. I quote 
it, with the cross-examination, in full, as found re- 
corded : 

Washington, D. C, January 14, 1873. 

J. A. Garfield, a member of the United States 
House of Representatives from the State of Ohio, 
having been duly sworn, made the following state- 
ment : 

The first I ever heard of the Credit Mobilier was 
some time in 1866 or 1867 — I cannot fix the date — 
when George Francis Train called on me and said he 
was organizing a company to be known as the Credit 
Mobilier of America, to be formed on the model of 
the Credit Mobilier of France ; that the object of the 
company was to purchase lands and build houses 
along the line of the Pacific railroad at points where 
cities and villages were likely to spring up ; that he 
I had no doubt that money thus invested would double 
or treble itself each year; that subscriptions were 
limited to $1,000 each, and he wished me to subscribe. 
He showed me a long list of subscribers, among them 
Mr. Oakes Ames, to whom he referred me for further 
information concerning the enterprise. I answered 
that I had not the money to spare, and if I had, I 
would not subscribe, without knowing more about the 
proposed organization. Mr. Train left me, saying he 
would hold a place open for me, and hoped I would 
yet conclude to subscribe. The same day I asked 
Mr. Ames what he thought of the enterprise. He 
jexpressed the opinion that the investment would be 
isafe and profitable. 

I heard nothing further on the subject for a year 
or more, and it was almost forgotten, when some 
time, I should say during the long session of 1868, 
Mr. Ames spoke of it again ; said the company had 



26o THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

organized, was doing well, and he thought would 
soon pay large dividends. He said that some of the 
stock had been left, or was to be left, in his hands to 
sell, and I could take the amount which Mr. Train 
had offered me, by paying the$i,oooand the accrued 
interest. He said if I was not able to pay for it then, 
he would hold it for me till I could pay, or until some 
of the dividends were payable. I told him I would 
consider the matter ; but would not agree to take 
any stock until I knew, from an examination of the 
charter, and the conditions of the subscription, the 
extent to which I should become pecuniarily liable.i 
He said he was not sure, but thought a stockholuei 
would be liable only for the par value of his stock 
that he had not the stock and papers with him, bulj 
would have them after a while. 

From the case, as presented, I should probabl}! 
have taken the stock, if I had been satisfied in regaro j 
to the extent of pecuniary liability. Thus the mattei | 
rested for some time, I think until the following year | 
During that interval, I understood that there wen 'i 
dividends due, amounting to nearly three times th( , 
par value of the stock. But in the meantime, I hacj 
heard that the company was involved in some con 
troversy with the Pacific railroad, and that Mr 
Ames' right to sell the stock was denied. When 
next saw Mr. Ames, I told him I had concluded no 
to take the stock. There the matter ended, so fa 
as I was concerned, and I had no further knowledg 
of the company's operations until the subject bega 
to be discussed in the newspapers last fall. 

Nothing was ever said to me by Mr. Train or Mi 
Ames to indicate or imply that the Credit Mobilie' 
was, or could be, in any way connected with the legi; 
lation of Congress for the Pacific railroad, or for an 
other purpose. Mr. Ames never gave, nor offere 



'& 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 261 

to give, me any stock or other valuable thing as a 
Igift. I once asked and obtained from him, and after- 
ward repaid to him, a loan of ^300 ; that amount is 
the only valuable thing I ever received from or 
Idelivered to him. 

; I never owned, received, or agreed to receive any 
(Stock of the Credit Mobilier, or of the Union Pacific 
jrailroad, or any dividends or profits arising from 
either of them. 

; (By the Chairman.) 

j Question. Had this loan you speak of any connec- 
^'ion in any way with your conversation in regard to 
the Credit Mobilier stock .? — Answer. No connection 
n any way except in regard to the time of payment. 
Mr. Ames stated to me that if I concluded to sub- 
iicribe for the Credit Mobilier stock I could allow the 
loan to remain until the payment on that was adjusted. 
\ never regarded it as connected in any other way 
With the stock enterprise. 

Q. Do you remember the time of that transaction } 
-A. I do not remember it precisely. -I should 
hink it was in the session of 1868. I had been to 
Europe the fall before, and was in debt, and borrowed 
everal sums of money at different times and from 
lifferent persons. This loan from Mr. Ames was 
ot at his instance. I made the request myself I 
hink I had asked one or two persons before him for 
he loan. 

Q. Have you any knowledge in reference to any 
ealings of Mr. Ames with any gentlemen in Con- 
ress in reference to the stock of the Credit Mobilier } 
~A. No, sir; I have not. I had no knowledge that 
'Ir. Ames had ever talked with anybody but myself, 
(t was a subject I gave but little attention to ; in fact, 
'lany of the details had almost passed out of my mind 
ntil they were called up in the late campaign. 



262 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

(By Mr. Black.) 

Q. Did you say you refused to take the stock 
simply because there was a lawsuit about it? — A. 
No ; not exactly that. I do not remember any other 
reason which I gave to Mr. Ames than that J did not 
wish to take stock in anything that would involve 
controversy. I think I gave him no other reason 
than that. 

Q. When you ascertained the relation that this 
company had with the Union Pacific railroad com- 
pany, and whence its profits were to be derived, 
would you have considered that a sufficient reason 
for declining it, irrespective of other considerations ? 
— A. It would have been as the case was afterward 
stated. 

Q. At the time you talked with Mr. Ames, before 
you rejected the proposition, you did not know j j 
whence the profits of the company were to be de- 1 h 
rived.? — A. I did not. I do not know that Mr. ^ 
Ames withheld, intentionally, from me any informa- d 
tion. I had derived my original knowledge of thci \ 
organization of the company from Mr. Train. He 
made quite an elaborate statement of it purposes, and 
I proceeded, in subsequent conversations, upon the 
supposition that the organization was unchanged. I 
ought to say for myself, as well as for Mr. Ames, 
that he never said any word to me that indicated the 
least desire to influence my legislative action in any 
way. If he had any such purpose, he certainly neverj 
said anything to me which would indicate it. 

Q. You know now, and have known for a long 
time, that Mr. Ames was deeply interested in the 
legislation on this subject .? — A. I supposed that he 
was largely interested in the Union Pacific railroad. 
I have heard various statements to that effect. I 

III 



II 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 263 

cannot say I had any such information of my own 
knowledge. 

Q. You mean that he did not electioneer with you 
or solicit your vote? — A. Certainly not None of 
the conversations I ever had with him had any refer- 
ence to such legislation. 

(By Mr. Merrick.) 

Q. Have you any knowledge of any other member 
of Congress being concerned in the Credit Mobilier 
'stock.? — A. No, sir; I have not. 

Q. Or any stock in the Union Pacific railroad.!' 
A. I have not. I can say to the committee that I 
jnever saw, I believe, in my life, a certificate of stock 
of the Union Pacific railroad company, and I never 
Isaw any certificate of stock of the Credit Mobilier, 
luntil Mr. Brooks exhibited one, a few days ago, in 
Ithe House of Representatives. 

i Q. Were any dividends ever tendered to you on 
l:he stock of the Credit Mobilier, upon the supposi- 
:ion that you were to be a subscriber.? — A. No, sir. 

Q. This loan of $300 you have repaid, if I under- 
stand you correctly } — A. Yes, sir. 

(By Mr. McCrary.) 

Q. You never examined the charter of the Credit 
vlobilier to see what were its objects } — A. No, sir; 

never saw it, 

Q. If I understand you; you did not know that the 
'redit Mobilier had any connection with the Union 
'acific railroad company.? — A, I understood from 
tie statement of Mr. Train that its objects were con- 
ected with the lands of the Union Pacific railroad 
•ompany, and the development of settlements along 
(lat road ; but that it had any relation to the Union 
Pacific railroad company, other than that, I did not 
now. I think I did hear, also, that the company 



264 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

was investing some of its earnings in the bonds of 
the road. 

Q. He stated that it was for the purpose of pur- 
chasing land and building houses? — A. That was 
the statement of Mr. Train. I think he said, in that 
connection, that he had already been doing some- 
thing of that kind at Omaha, or was going to do it. 

Q. You did not know that the object was to build 
the Union Pacific railroad ? — A. No, sir ; I did not. 

This is the case as I understand it, and as I have 
always understood it. In reviewing it, after all that 
has been said and written, there are no substantial 
changes which I could now make, except to render 
a few points more definite. Few men can be certain 
that they give, with absolute correctness, the details 
of conversations and transactions, after a lapse of 
five years. Subject to this limitation, I have no 
doubt of the accuracy of my remembrance concern- 
ing this transaction. { 

From this testimony, it will be seen that, when Mr. 
Ames offered to sell me the stock in 1867-68, my 
only knowledge of the character and objects of the 
Credit Mobilier company was obtained from Mr. 
Train, at least, as early as the winter of i866-'6y, 
long before the company had become a party to the 
construction contract. It has been said that I am 
mistaken in thinking it was the Credit Mobilier that 
Mr. Train offered me in 1866-67. I think I am not. 
Mr. Durant, in explaining his connection with the 
Credit Mobilier, says : 

I sent Mr. Train to Philadelphia. We wanted i 
(the Credit Mobilier) for a stock operation, but wt 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 265 

could not agree what was to be done with it. Mr. 
Train proposed to go on an expanded scale, but I 
abandoned it. I think Mr. Train got some subscrip- 
tions ; what they were I do not know. 

It has been said that it is absurd to suppose that 
intelligent men, familiar with public a^airs, did not 
understand all about the relation of the Credit Mo- 
bilier company to the Pacific railroad company. It 
is a sufficient answer to say that, until the present 
winter, few men, either in or out of Congress, ever 
understood it ; and it was for the interest of those in 
the management of that arrangement to prevent 
these facts from being known. This will appear 
from the testimony of Hon. J. F. Wilson, who pur- 
chased ten shares of the stock in 1867. In the 
spring of 1869, he was called on professionally to 
give an opinion as to the right of holders of Pacific 
railroad stock to vote their own shares, notwith- 
standing the proxy they had given to the seven 
trustees. To enable him to understand the case, a 
copy of the triple contract was placed in his hands. 
He says : 

Down to the time these papers were placed in my 
hands, I knew almost nothing of the organization 
and details of the Credit Mobilier, or the value of its 
stock, but then saw that here was abundant ground 
for future trouble and litigation ; and, as one of the 
results, sold out my interest. 

And again : 

Q. Do you, or did you know, at the time you had 
this negotiation with Mr. Ames, the value of the 
Credit Mobilier stock ? — A. I did not; and I wish 



266 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

to state here, in regard to that, that it was a very 
difficult thing to ascertain what was the value of the 
stock. Those who, as I say in mv statement, pos- 
sessed the secrets of the Credit Mobilier, kept them 
to themselves ; and I never was able to get anv 
definite information as to what the value of the stock 
was. 

When, in the winter of i86y-68, Mr. Ames pro- 
posed to sell me some of the stock, I regarded it as 
a mere repetition of the offer made by Mr. Train, 
more than a year before. The company was the 
same, and the amount offered me was the same. Mr. 
Ames knew it had formerly been offered me, for I 
had then asked him his opinion of such an invest- 
ment ; and having understood the objects of the 
company, as stated by Mr. Train, I did not inquire 
further on that point. 

There could not be the slightest impropriety in 
taking the stock, if the objects of the company 
were such as Mr. Train represented them to me. 
The only question on which I then hesitated, was 
the personal pecuniary liability attached to a sub- 
scription ; and, to settle that question, I asked to see 
the charter, and the' conditions on which the stock 
was based. I have no doubt Mr. Ames expected I 
would subscribe. But more than a year passed with- 
out further discussion of the subject. The papers 
were not brought, and the purchase was never 
made. 

In the winter of 1869-70, I received the first 
intimation I ever had of the nature of the connec- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 26/ 

tion between the Credit Mobilier company and the 
Pacific railroad company, in a private conversation 
with the Hon. J. S. Black of Pennsylvania. Find- 
ing, in the course of that conversation, that he was 
familiar with the history of the enterprise, I told him 
all I knew about the matter, and informed him of the 
offer that had been made me. He expressed the 
opinion that the managers of the Credit Mobilier 
were attempting to defraud the Pacific railroad com- 
pany, and informed me that Mr. Ames was pretend- 
ing to have sold stock to members of Congress, for 
the purpose of influencing their action in any legis- 
tion that might arise on the subject. 

Though I had neither done or said anything which 
placed me under any obligation to take the stock, I 
at once informed Mr. Ames, that if he was still hold- 
ing the offer open to me, he need do so no longer, 
for I would not take the stock. This I did immedi- 
ately after the conversation with Judge Black, which, 
according to his own recollection, as well as mine, 
was early in the winter of 1869-70. 

One circumstance has given rise to a painful con- 
flict of testimony between Mr. Ames and myself. I 
refer to the loan of $300. Among the various criti- 
cisms that have been made on this subject, it is said 
to be a suspicious circumstance, that I should have 
borrowed so small a sum of money from Mr. Ames, 
about this time. As stated in my testimony, I had 
just returned from Europe, only a few days before 
the session began, and the expenses of the trip had 
brought me short of funds. I might have alluded in 



268 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the same connection to the fact that, before going 
abroad, I had obtained money from a banker in New 
York, turning over to him advanced drafts for sev- 
eral months of my congressional salary, when it 
should be due ; and, needing a small sum, early in 
the session, for current expenses, I asked it of Mr. 
Ames, for the reason that he had volunteered to put 
me in the way of making what he thought would be 
a profitable investment. He gave me the money, 
asking for no receipt, but saying, at the same time, 
that if I concluded to take the stock, we would settle 
both matters together. I am not able to fix the 
exact date of the loan, but it was probably in Janu- 
ary, 1868. 

Mr. Ames seems to have forgotten this circum- 
stance, until I mentioned it to him, after the investi- 
gation began ; for he said, in his first testimony, 
that he had forgotten that he had let me have any 
money. I neglected to pay him this money, until 
after the conversation with Judge Black, partly be- 
cause of my pecuniary embarrassments, and partly 
because no conclusion had been reached in regard to 
the purchase of the stock. When I paid him, I took 
no receipt, as I had given none at the first. 

Mr. Ames said once or twice, in the course of his 
testimony, that I did not repay it, although he says, 
in regard to it, that he does not know, and cannot 
remember. 

On these differences of recollection between Mr. 
Ames and myself, it is not so important to show that 
my statement is the correct one, as to show that I 



I 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 269 

have made it strictly in accordance with my under- 
standing of the facts. And this I am able to show 
by proof entirely independent of my own testimony. 

In the spring of 1868, Hon. J. P. Robison of 
Cleveland, Ohio, was my guest here in Washington, 
and spent nearly two weeks with me, during the trial 
of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. There has 
existed between us an intimate acquaintance of long 
standing, and I have often consulted him on business 
affairs. On meeting him since the adjournment of 
Congress, he informed me that, while he was visiting 
me on the occasion referred to, I stated to him the 
offer of Mr. Ames, and asked him his opinion of it. 
The following letter, just received from him, states 
the conversation as he remembers it : 

Cleveland, Ohio, May i, 1873. 

Dear General: — I send you the facts concerning a 
conversation I had with you (I think in the spring of 
1868) when I was stopping in Washington for some 
days, as your guest, during the trial of the impeach- 
ment of President Johnson. While there, you told 
me that Mr. Ames had offered you a chance to invest 
a small amount in a company that was to operate in 
lands and buildings along the Pacific railroad, which 
he (Ames) said would be a good thing. You asked 
me what I thought of it as a business proposition, 
that you had not determined what you would do 
about it, and suggested to me to talk with Ames, 
and form my own judgment, and if I thought well 
enough of it to advance the money and buy the stock 
on joint account with you, and let you pay me inter- 
est on the one-half, I could do so. But I did not 
think well of the proposition as a business enterprise, 
and did not talk with Ames on the subject. 



270 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

After this talk, having at first told you I would 
give the subject thought, and perhaps talk with 
Ames, I told you one evening that I did not think 
well of the proposition, and had not spoken to Ames 
on the subject. 

Yours, truly, 

J. P. ROBISON. 

Hon. J. A. Garfield. 

I subjoin two other letters, which were written 
about the time the report of the committee was made, 
and to which I refer in my remarks made on the 3d 
of March, in the House of Representatives. The 
first is from a citizen of the town where I reside ; 
and the time of the conversation to which it alludes, 
was, as near as I can remember, in the fall of 1868, 
during the recess of Congress : 

Hiram, Ohio, February 18, 1873. 

Dear Sir: — It may be relevant to the question at 
issue between yourself and Mr. Oakes Ames, in the 
Credit Mobilier investigation, for me to state that, 
three or four years ago, in a private conversation, you 
made a statement to me involving the substance of 
your testimony before the Poland committee, as pub- 
lished in the newspapers. The material points of 
your statement were these : 

That you had been spoken to by George Francis 
Train, who offered you some shares of the Credit 
Mobilier stock ; that you told him that you had no 
money to invest in stocks; that subsequently you 
had a conversation in relation to the matter with Mr. 
Ames ; that Ames offered to carry the stock for you 
until you could pay for it, if you cared to buy it ; and 
that you had told him in that case perhaps you would 
take it, but would not agree to do so until you had 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/1 

inquired more fully into the matter. Such an ar- 
rangement as this was made, Ames agreeing to carry 
the stock until you should decide. In this way, the 
matter stood, as I understood it, at the time of our 
conversation. My understanding was distinct that 
you had not accepted Mr. Ames' proposition, but that 
the shares were still held at your option. 
^ You stated, further, that the company was to oper- 
ate in real property along the line of the Pacific 
road. Perhaps, I should add that this conversation, 
which I have always remembered very distinctly, 
took place here, in Hiram. I have remembered the 
conversation the more distinctly from the circum- 
stances that gave rise to it. Having been intimately 
acquainted with you for twelve or fifteen years, and 
having had a considerable knowledge of your pecun- 
iary affairs, I asked you how you were getting on, 
and especially whether you were managing to reduce 
your debts. In reply, you gave me a detailed state- 
ment of your affairs, and concluded, by saying you had 
had some stock offered you, which, if you bought it, 
would probably make you some money. You then 
proceeded to state the case, as I have stated it above. 

I cannot fix the time of the conversation more 
definitely than to say it was certainly three, and 
probably four, years ago. 

Very truly, yours, 

B. A. Hinsdale, 

President of Hiram College. 

Hon. J. A. Garfield, Washington, D. C. 

The other letter was addressed to the Speaker of 
the House, and is as follows : 

Philadelphia, February 15, 1873. 

My Dear Sir : — P>om the beginning of the investi- 
gation concerning Mr. Ames' use of the Credit Mo- 



272 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

bilier, I believe that General Garfield was free from 
all guilty connection with that business. This opin- 
ion was founded, not merely on my confidence in his 
integrity, but on some special knowledge of his case. 
I may have told you all about it in conversation, but 
I desire now to repeat it, by way of reminder. 

I assert unhesitatingly that, whatever General Gar- 
field may have done, or forborne to do, he acted in 
profound ignorance of the nature and character of 
the thing which Mr. Ames was proposing to sell. 
He had not the slightest suspicion that he was to be 
taken into a ring organized for the purpose of de- 
frauding the public ; nor did he know that the stock 
was in any manner connected with anything which 
came, or could come, within the legislative jurisdic- 
tion of Congress. The case against him lacks the 
scienter which alone constitutes guilt. 

In the winter of 1 869-' 70, I told General Garfield 
of the fact that his name was on Ames' list ; that 
Ames charged him with being one of his distributees ; 
explained to him the character, origin and objects of 
the Credit Mobilier ; pointed out the connection it 
had with congressional legislation, and showed him 
how impossible it was for a member of Congress to 
hold stock in it without bringing his private interests 
in conflict with his public duty. That all this was to 
him a perfectly new revelation, I am as sure as I can 
be of such a fact, or of any fact, which is capable of 
being proved only by moral circumstances. He told 
me, then, the whole story of Train's offer to him, and 
Ames' subsequent solicitation, and his own action in 
the premises, much as he details it to the committee. 
I do not undertake to reproduce the conversation ; 
but the effect of it all was to convince me thoroughly 
that, when he listened to Ames, he was perfectly un- 
conscious of anything evil. I watched carefully 
every word that fell from him on this point, and did 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/3 

not regard his narrative of the transaction, in other 
! respects, with much interest, because, in my view, 
'everything else was insignificant. I did not care 
.whether he had made a bargain technically binding 
or not ; his integrity depended upon the question, 
kvhether he acted with his eyes open. If he had 
jknown the true character of the proposition made to 
jhim, he would not have endured it, much less em- 
jbraced it. 

I Now, couple this with Mr. Ames' admission that 
'he gave no explanation whatever of the matter to 
(General Garfield ; then, reflect that not a particle of 
jproof exists to show that he learned anything about 
it, previous to his conversation with me, and I think 
you will say that it is altogether unjust to put him on 
•he list of those who, knowingly and willfully, joined 
the fraudulent association in question. 

I * J. S. Black. 

I Hon. J. G. Blaine, 

Speaker of House of Representatives. 

To these may be added the facts, recently pub- 
ished by Colonel Donn Piatt of this city, that, in 
he winter of 1869-70, he had occasion to look into 
he history of the Credit Mobilier company, and 
bund the same state of facts concerning my connec- 
ion with it, as are set forth in the letters quoted 
bove. 

Whether my understanding of the facts is correct 
T not, it is manifest, from the testimony given above, 
hat, in the spring of 1868, and in the autumn of that 
ear, and again in the winter of 1869, when I could 
ave no motive to mis-represent the facts, I stated the 
18 



274 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

case to these gentlemen, substantially as it is stated 
in my testimony before the committee. 

But it has been charged in the newspapers that, 
during the Presidential campaign, I denied any 
knowledge of the subject, or, at least, that I allowed 
the impression to be made upon the public mind that 
I knew nothing of it. To this answer, I wrote no 
letter on the subject, and made no statement in any 
public address, except to deny, in the broadest terms, 
the only charge then made, — that I had been bribed! 
by Oakes Ames. 

When the charges first appeared in the newspapers, 
I was in Montana Territory, and heard nothing oj 
them until my return, on the 13th or 14th of Septem- 
ber. On the following day, I met General Boynton, 
correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, and related 
to him, briefly, what I remembered about the offer tq 
sell the stock. I told him I should write no letteij 
on the subject, but if he thought best to publish the! 
substance of what I had stated to him, he could dci 
so. The same day he wrote and telegraphed frorr' 
Washington, to the Cinci^mati Gazette, under date 0: 
September 15, 1872, the following, which is a brie 
but correct report of my statement to him : 

General Garfield, who has just arrived here fron 
the Indian country, has to-day had the first opportii 
nity of seeing the charges connecting his name witl 
receiving shares of the Credit Mobilier from Oake; 
Ames. He authorizes the statement that he nevxi 
subscribed for a single share of the stock, and thai 
he never received, or saw a share of it. When th(' 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/5 

company was first formed, George Francis Train, 
then active in it, came to Washington, and exhibited 
a list of subscribers, of leading capitalists, and some 
members of Congress, to the stock of the company. 
The subscription was described as a popular one of 
i^i.ooo cash. Train urged General Garfield to sub- 
scribe, on two occasions, and each time, he declined. 
Subsequently, he was again informed that the list was 
nearly completed, but that a chance remained for 
him to subscribe, when he again declined ; and to this 
day, he has not subscribed for, or received, any share 
of stock or bond of the company. 

This dispatch was widely copied in the newspapers 
at the time, and was the only statement I made or 
authorized. One thing in connection with the case, 
I withheld from the public. When I saw the letters 
of Oakes Ames to Mr. McComb, I was convinced, 
from what Judge Black had told me, in 1869, that 
they were genuine, and that Ames had pretended to 
McComb that he had sold the Credit Mobilier stock 
for the purpose of securing the influence of members 
of Congress in any legislation that might arise touch- 
ing his interests. I might have published the fact 
that I had heard this, and now believed Ames had so 
represented it ; though, at the time Judge Black gave 
me the information, I thought quite likely he was 
mistaken. I did not know to what extent any other 
member of Congress had had negotiations with Mr. 
Ames ; but knowing the members whose names were 
published in connection with the charges, and be- 
. lieving them to be men of the highest integrity, I 
did not think it just, either to them, or to the party 



2/6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

with which we acted, to express my opinion of the 
genuineness of Ames' letters, at a time when a false 
construction would doubtless have been placed upon 
It. 

Here, I might rest the case, but for some of the 
testimony given by Mr. Ames, in reference to myself. 
I shall consider it carefully, and shall make quota- 
tions of his language, or refer to it, as printed in 
the report, so that the correctness of my citations 
may, in every case, be verified. 

To bring the discussion into as narrow a compass 
as possible, the points of agreement and difference 
between Mr. Ames and myself may thus be stated : 

We agree that, soon after the beginning of the 
session of 1867-8, Mr. Ames offered to sell me ten 
shares of the Credit Mobilier stock, at par and the 
accrued interest ; that I never paid him any money 
on that offer ; that I never received a certificate of 
stock; that after the month of June, 1868, I never 
received, demanded, or was offered any dividend, in 
any form, on that stock. We also, agree that I once 
received from Mr. Ames a small sum of money. On 
the following points we disagree : He claims that I 
agreed to take the stock. I deny it. He claims that 
I received from him $329, and no more, as a balance 
of dividends on the stock. This I deny, and assert 
that I borrowed from him $300, and no more, and 
afterwards returned it ; and that I have never re- 
ceived anything from him on account of the stock. 

In discussing the testimony relating to myself, it 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/7 

becomes necessary, for a full exhibition of the argu- 
ment, to refer to that concerning others. 

It has been said that in Mr. Ames' first testimony, 
-he withheld, or concealed, the facts generally ; and 
hence, that what he said at that time, concerning any 
one person, is of but little consequence. The weight 
and value of his first testimony, concerning any one 
person, can be ascertained only by comparing it with 
his testimony, given at the same examination, con- 
cerning others. 

In that first examination, of December 17, Mr. 
Ames mentions, by name, sixteen members of Con- 
gress, who were said to have had dealings with him, 
in reference to Credit Mobilier stock. Eleven of 
these, he says, in that testimony, bought the stock; 
but he there sets me down among the five who did 
not buy it. He says : ' He [Garfield] did not pay 
for it or receive it.' 

He was, at the same time, cross-examined, in re- 
gard to the dividends he paid to different persons ; 
and he testified that he paid one or more dividends 
to eight different members of Congress, and that 
three others, being original subscribers, drew their 
dividends, not from him, but directly from the com- 
pany. To several of the eight, he says, he paid all 
the dividends that accrued. But, in the same cross- 
examination, he testified that he did not remember 
to have paid me any dividends, nor that he had let 
me have any money. The following is the whole of 
his testimony concerning me, on cross-examination : 

Q, In reference to Mr. Garfield, you say that you 



278 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

agreed to get ten shares for him, and to hold them 
till he could pay for them, and that he never did pay 
for them, nor receive them ? — A. Yes, sir. 

Q. He never paid any money on that stock, nor re- 
ceived any money from it? — A. Not on account of 
it. 

Q. He received no dividends? — A. No, sir; I 
think not. He says he did not. My own recollec- 
tion is not very clear. 

Q. So that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield never 
parted with any money, nor received any money on 
that transaction? — A, No, sir; he had some money 
from me once, some three or four hundred dollars, 
and called it a loan. He says that that is all he ever 
received from me, and that he considered it a loan. 
He never took his stock, and never paid for it. 

Q. Did you understand it so? — A. Yes; I am 
willing to so understand it. I do not recollect pay- 
ing him any dividend, and have forgotten that I paid 
him any money. 

Q. Who received the dividends? — A. Mr. Patter- 
son, Mr. Bingham, James F. Wilson ; and I think Mr. 
Colfax received a part of them. I do not know 
whether he received them all or not. I think Mr. 
Scofield received a part of them. Messrs. Kelley and 
Garfield never paid for their stock, and never received 
their dividends. 

Certainly, it cannot be said that Mr. Ames has 
evinced any partiality for me ; and if he was attempt- 
ing to shield any of those concerned, it will not be 
claimed that I was one of his favorites. 

In his first testimony, he claims to have spoken 
from memory, and without the aid of his documents. 
But he did, then, distinctly testify that he sold the 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 279 

stock to eleven members, and paid dividends to eight 
of them. He not only did not put me in either of 
those lists, but distinctly testified that I never took 
the stock, nor received the dividends arising from it. 

His second testimony was given on the 226. of 
January, five weeks after his first. In assigning to 
this, and all his subsequent testimony, its just weight, 
it ought to be said, that before he gave it, an event 
occurred which made it strongly for his interest to 
prove a sale of the stock which he held as trustee. 
Besides the fact that McComb had already an equity 
suit pending in Philadelphia, to compel Mr. Ames to 
account to khn for this same stock ; another suit was 
threatened, after he had given his first testimony, to 
make him account to the company for all the stock 
he had not sold as trustee. His first testimony was 
given on the 17th of December, and was made public 
on the 6th of January. On the 15th of January, T. C. 
Durant, one of the heaviest stockholders of the Credit 
Mobilier company, and, for a long time, its president, 
was examined as a witness, and said, * The stock 
that stands in the name of Mr. Ames, as trustee, 
I claim belongs to the company yet ; and I have a 
summons in a suit, in my pocket, waiting to catch him 
in New York to serve the papers.' Of course, if, as 
a trustee, he had made sale of any portion of this 
stock, and afterward, as an individual, had bought it 
back, he could not be compelled to return it to the 
company. 

Nowhere in Mr. Ames' subsequent testimony does 
he claim to remember the transaction between him- 



280 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

self and me, any differently from what he first stated 
it to be. But from the memoranda found, or made, 
after his first examination, he ii^fcrs and declares that 
there was a sale of the stock to me, and a payment 
to me of $329, on account of dividends. 

Here, again, his testimony concerning me should 
be compared with his testimony given at the same 
time concerning others. 

The memoranda, out of which all his additional 
testimony grew, consisted of certificates of stock, 
receipts, checks on the sergeant-at-arms, and entries 
in his diary. I will consider these in the order 
stated. 

To two members of Congress, he delivered certifi- 
cates of Credit Mobilier stock, which as trustee he 
had sold to them ; and in a third case, he delivered 
a certificate of stock to the person to whom a mem- 
ber had sold it. But Mr. Ames testifies that he never 
gave me a certificate of stock; that I never de- 
manded one ; and that no certificate was ever spoken 
of between us. 

In the case of five members, he gave to them, or 
received from them, regular receipts of payment on 
account of stock and dividends. But nowhere is it 
claimed, or pretended, that any receipt was ever given 
by me, or to me, on account of any dividends arising 
from it. 

Again, to five of the members, Mr. Ames gave 
checks on the sergeant-at-arms, payable to them by 
name ; and these checks were produced in evidence. 
In the case of three others, he produced checks bear- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 28 1 

ing on their face the initials of the persons to whom 
he claimed they were paid. But he nowhere pretended 
to have, or ever to have had any check bearing either 
my name or my initials, or any mark or indorsement 
connecting it with me. 

In regard to dividends claimed, in his subsequent 
testimony, to have been paid to different members, in 
two cases, he says he paid all the dividends that ac- 
crued on the stock from December, 1867, to May 6, 
1871. In a third case, all the accretions of the stock 
were received by the person to whom he sold it, as 
the result of a re-sale. In a fourth case, he claims to 
have paid money on the 22d of September, 1868, on 
account of dividends, and in a fifth case, he claims to 
have paid a dividend in full, January 22, 1869. One 
purchaser sold his ten shares in the winter of i868-'6g, 
and received thereon a net profit of at least ^3,000. 
Yet Mr. Ames repeatedly swears that he never paid 
me but ^329 ; that after June, 1868, he never tend- 
ered to me, nor did I ever demand from him, any divi- 
dend ; and that there was never any conversation 
between us relating to dividends. 

After Mr. Ames had stated that he remembered 
no conversation between us in regard to the adjust- 
ment of these accounts, the committee asked: 

Q. Was this the only dealing you had with him in 
reference to any stock ? — A. I think so. 

Q. Was it the only transaction of any kind.? — A. 
The only transaction. 

Q. Has that $329 ever been paid to you? — A. I 
have no recollection of it. 



282 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Q. Have you any belief that it ever has? — A. No, 
sir. 

Q. Did you ever :oan General Garfield $300? — 
A. Not to my knowledge ; except that he calls this a 
loan. 

Q. There were dividends of Union Pacific railroad 
Stock on these ten shares ? — A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Did General Garfield ever receive these? — A. 
No, sir. He never has received but $329. * * -^^ 

Q. Has there been any conversation between you 
and him in reference to the Pacific stock he was 
entitled to? — A. No, sir. 

Q. Has he ever called for it ? — A. No, sir. 

Q. Have you ever offered it to him ? — A. No, sir. 

Q. Has there been any conversation in relation to 
it? — A. No, sir. 

The assertion that he withheld the payment of 
dividends, because of the McComb suit, brought in 
November, 1868, is wholly broken down by the fact 
that he did pay the dividends to several persons dur- 
ing a period of two years, after the suit was com- 
menced. 

The only other memoranda offered as evidence are 
the entries in Mr. Ames' diary for 1868. That 
book contains a separate statement of an account 
with eleven members of Congress, showing the num- 
ber of shares of stock sold, or intended to be sold, 
to each, with the interest and dividends thereon. 
Across the face of nine of these accounts, long lines 
are drawn, crossing each other, showing, as Mr. 
Ames says, that in each such case the account was 
adjusted and closed. Three of these entries of ac- 
counts are thus crossed off, and the three members 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 283 

referred to therein testify that they never bought 

the stock. The account entered under my name is 

one of the three that are not crossed off. Here 

is the entry in full. 

GARFIELD, 

10 shares Credit M $1,00000 

7 mos. 10 days 43 3^ 

I $1,043 36 

8oper ct. bd. div., at97 . . * . .77600 

$267 .36 
Int'st to June 20 3 ^4 

j 271 00 

1,000 C. M. ■ 

I 1,000 U. P. 

This entry is a mere undated memorandum, and 
■ indicates neither payment, settlement or sale. In 
i reference to it, the following testimony was given by 
Mr. Ames, on cross-examination : 

' Q. This statement of Mr. Garfield's account is not 
crossed off, which indicates, does it, that the mat- 
ter has never been settled or adjusted .'' — A. No, sir , 
it never has. 

Q. Can you state whether you have any other 
entry jn relation to Mr. Garfield.? — A. No, sir. 

Comparing Mr. Ames' testimony in reference to 
me, with that in reference to others, it appears that 
when he testified from his memory alone, he dis- 
itinctly and affirmatively excepted me from the list of 
those who bought the stock, or received the divi- 
dends ; and that subsequently, in every case save my 
own, he produced some one or more of the following 
documents as evidence, viz., certificates of stock ; 



284 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

receipts of money or dividends ; checks bearing 
either the full names or the initials of the persons tc 
whom they purported to have been paid ; or entries 
in his diary, of accounts marked ' adjusted anc 
closed.' But no one of the classes of memoranda 
here described was produced in reference to me ; noi 
was it pretended that any one such, referring to me, 
ever existed. 

In this review, I neither assert nor intimate thai 
sales of stock are proved in the other cases referred 
to. In several cases such proof was not made. But 1 
do assert that none of the evidences mentioned above 
exist in reference to me. 

Having thus stated the difference between the teS' 
timony relating to other persons, and that relating tc 
me, I now notice the testimony on which it is at 
tempted to reach the conclusion that I did agree 
to take the stock, and did receive ^329 on account 
of it. 

On the 22d of January, Mr. Ames presented t 
the committee a statement of an alleged account 
with me, which I quote, — 

J A. G., Dr. 

1S68. To 10 shares stock Credit Mobilier of A. $1,000 00 

Interest 47 oo 

June 19. To cash 329 00 

$1,376 00 



Cr. 
1868. By dividend bonds. Union Pacific railroad, 

$1,000. at 80 per cent, less 2 per cent. $776 co 
June 17. By dividend collected for your account . 600 00 



$1,376 00 



' OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 285 

This account, and other similar ones presented at 
the same time, concerning other members, he claimed 
to have copied from his memorandum-book. But 
when the memorandum-book was subsequently pre- 
sented, it was found that the account here quoted 
I was not copied from it, but was made up partly from 
Imemory, and partly from such memoranda as Mr. 
.Ames had discovered after his first examination. 

By comparing this account with the entry made in 
jhis diary, and already quoted, it will be seen that 
they are not duplicates, either in substance or form ; 
and that in this account a new element is added, 
namely, an alleged payment of $329 in cash, on June 
19. This is the very element in dispute. 

His only evidence, that this sum was paid me, is 
found in the production of a check drawn by Mr. 
Ames on the sergeant-at-arms. The following is 

the language of the check : 

June 22, 1868. 
Pay O. A., or bearer, three hundred and twenty- 
nine dollars, and charge to my account. 

Oakes Ames. 

This check bears no indorsement or other mark, 
than the words and figures given above. It was 
drawn on the 2 2d day of June, and, as shown by the 
books of the sergeant-at-arms, was paid the same day 
by the paying teller. But if this check was paid to 
me on the account just quoted, it must have been 
delivered to me three days before it was drawn ; for 
the account says I received the payment on the 19th 
of June. 



286 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



There is nothing but the testimony of Mr. Ameij 
that in any way connects this check with me ; and 
as the committee find that the check was paid tc 
me, I call special attention to all the testimony thai 
bears upon the questior 

When Mr. Ames testified that he paid me ^329 as 
a dividend on account of the stock, the following 
question was asked him : 

Q. How was that paid .? — A. Paid in money, I 
believe. 

At a later period in the examination : 

Q. You say that $329 was paid to him. How was 
that paid.? — A. I presume by a check on the ser- 
geant-at-arms. I find there are checks filed, without 
indicating who they were for. 

One week later, the check, referred to above, was 
produced, and the. following examination was had : 

Q. This check seems to have been paid to some- 
body, and taken up by the sergeant-at-arms. Those 
initials are your own ^ — Yes, sir. 

Q. Do you know who had the benefit of this 
check.? — A. I cannot tell you. 

Q. Do you think you received the money on it 
yourself.? — A. I have no idea. I may have drawn 
the money and handed it to another person. It was 
paid in that transaction. It may have been paid to 
Mr. Garfield. There were several sums of that 
amount. 

Q. Have you any memory in reference to this 
check .? — A. I have no memory as to that particular 
check. 

Still later in the examination occurs the following : 
(2. In regard to Mr. Garfield, do you know wheth- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 28/ 

er you gave him a check, or paid him the money ? — 
A. I think I did not pay him the money. He got it 
from the sergeant-at-arms. 

Still later, in the same examination, occurs the 

following : 

Q. You think the check, on which you wrote 
nothing to indicate the payee, must have been Mr. 
Gaiiield's.^ — A. Yes, sir. That is my judgment. 

On the nth of February, twelve days later still, 
the subject came up again, and Mr. Ames said : 

A. I am not sure how I paid Mr. Garfield. 

Still later, in a cross-examination in reference to 
Mr. Colfax, the following occurs : 

Q. In testifying in Mr. Garfield's case, you say 
you may have drawn the money on the check, and 
paid him. Is not your answer equally applicable to 
the case of Mr. Colfax ? — A. No, sir. 

Q. Why not .? — A. I put Mr. Colfax's initials on 
the^check, while I put no initials on Mr. Garfield's ; 
and I may have drawn the money myself. 

Q. Did not Mr. Garfield's check belong to him ? 
— A. Mr. Garfield had not paid for his stock. He 
was entitled to ^329 balance. But Mr. Colfax paid 
for his, and I had no business with his ^1,200, 

Q. Is your recollection in regard to this payment 
to Mr. Colfax any more clear than your recollection 
as to the payment to Mr. Garfield.? — A. Yes, sir; I 
think it is. 

And, finally, in the examination of Mr. Dillon, 
cashier of the sergeant-at-arms, the following is re- 
corded : 

0. There is a check payable to Oakes Ames, or 
bearer. Have you any recollection of that.^* — A. 



288 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

That was paid to himself. I have no doubt, myself, 
that I paid that to Mr. Ames. 

Reviewing the testimony on this point (and I have 
quoted it all), it will be seen that Mr. Ames, several 
times, asserts that he does not know whether he paid 
me the check or not. He states positively that he 
has no special recollection of the check. His testi- 
mony is wholly inferential. In one of the seven 
paragraphs quoted, he says he paid me the money 
in another, he says he may have paid me the money , 
in three of them, he thinks, or presumes, that he paid 
me the check; and in the other two, he says he does 
not know. 

The cashier of the-^sergeant-at-arms has no doubt 
that Mr. Ames himself drew the money on the check. 
And yet, upon this vague and wholly inconclusive 
testimony, and almost alone upon it, is based the 
assumption that I received from Mr. Ames ^329, as 
a dividend on the stock. I affirm, with perfect dis- 
tinctness of recollection, that I received no check 
from Mr. Ames. The only money I ever received 
from him was in currency. 

The only other evidence, in support of the assump- 
tion that he paid me $329, as a balance on the stock, is 
found in the entries in his diary for 1868. The value 
of this class of memoranda depends altogether upon 
their character, and upon the business habits of the 
man who makes them. On this latter point, the fol- 
lowin g testimony of Mr. Ames is important : 

Q. Is it your habit, as a matter of business, in con- 
ducting various transactions with different persons, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 289 

to do it without making any memoranda? — A. This 
was my habit. Until within a year or two, I have had 
no book-keeper, and I used to keep all my own mat- 
ters in my own way, and very carelessly, I admit 

The memorandum- book, in which these entries were 
made, was not presented to the committee until the 
nth of February, one week before they made their 
report. This book does not contain continuous 
entries ot current transactions, with consecutive dates. 
It is in no sense a day-book; but contains a loose, 
irregular mess of memoranda, which may have been 
made at the time of the transactions, or long after- 
ward. Mr. Ames says of it in his testimony : 

Q. What was the character of the book in which 
the memoranda were made? — A. It was in a small 
pocket memorandum, and some of it on slips of 
paper. 

It is not pretended that this book contains a com- 
plete record of payments and receipts. And yet, 
besides the check, already referred to, this book, so 
made up, contains the only evidence, or pretended 
evidence, on which it is claimed that I agreed to take 
the stock. It should be remembered that every por- 
tion of this evidence, both check and book, is of Mr. 
Ames' own making. I have already referred to the 
undated memorandum of an account in this book, 
under my name, and have shown that it neither 
proved a sale of stock, or any payment on account of 
it. 

There are but two other entries in the book relating 
to me, and they are two lists of names, substantially 

19 



290 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

duplica'.es of each other, with various amounts set 
opposite each. They are found on pages 450 and 
453 of the testimony. The word * paid ' is marked 
before the first name on one of these lists, and ditto 
marks placed under the word 'paid,' and opposite 
the remaining names. But the value of this entry, as 
proof of payment, will be seen from the cross-exami- 
nation of Mr. Ames, which immediately follows the 
list: 

Q. This entry, 'Paid S. Colfax ^1,200,' is the 
amount which you paid by th:s check on the sergeant- 
at-arms .? — A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Was this entry upon this page of these various 
names intended to show the amount you were to pay, 
or that you had paid ; was that made at this date.? — 
A. I do not know ; it was made about that time. I 
would not have written it on Sunday ; it is not very 
Hkely. It was made on a blank page. It is simply 
a list of names. 

Q. Were these names put down after you had made 
the payments, or before, do you think .? — A. Before, 
I think. 

Q. You think you made this list before the parties 
referred to had actually received their checks, or re- 
ceived the money.? — A. Yes. sir; that was to show 
whom I had to pay, and who were entitled to receive 
the 60 per cent, dividend. It shows whom I had to 
pay here in Washington. 

Q. It says 'paid.?' — A, Yes, sir; well, I did pay 
it. 

Q. What I want to know is, whether the list was 
made out before, or after payment.? — A. About the 
same time, I suppose ; probably, before. 

The other list, bearing the same names and amounts. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 29I 

shows no other evidence that the several sums were 
paid, than a cross marked opposite each amount But 
concerning this, Mr. Ames testifies that it was a list 
of what was to be paid, and that the cross was sub- 
sequently added to show that the amount had been 
paid. 

Neither of these lists shows anything as to the 
time or mode of payment, and would nowhere be ac- 
cepted as proof of payment. By Mr. Ames' own 
showing, they are lists of persons to whom he expected 
to pay the amounts set opposite their names. They 
may exhibit his expectations, but they do not prove 
the alleged payments. If the exact sum of $329 was 
received by me at the time, and under the circum- 
stances alleged by Mr. Ames, it implies an agreement 
to take the stock. It implies, furthermore, that Mr. 
Ames had sold Pacific railroad bonds for me ; that 
he had received, also, a cash dividend for me, and had 
accounted to me as trustee for these receipts, and 
the balance of the proceeds. 

Now, I affirm, with the firmest conviction of the 
correctness of my statement, that I never heard until 
this investigation began, that Mr. Ames ever sold 
any bonds, or performed any other stock transactions 
on my behalf, and no act of mine was ever based on 
such a supposition. 

The only remaining testimony bearing upon me, 
is that in which Mr. Ames refers to conversations 
between himself and me, after the investigation 
began. The first of these was of his own seeking, 
and occurred before he or I had testified. Soon 



292 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

after the investigation began, Mr. Ames asked me 
what I remembered of our talk in 1867-68, in refer- 
ence to the Credit Mobilier company. I told him I 
could best answer his question by reading to him the 
statement I had already prepared to lay before the 
committee, when I should be called. Accordingly, 
on the following day, I took my written statement to 
the Capitol, and read it to him carefully, sentence by 
sentence, and asked him to point out anything which 
he might think incorrect. He made but two criticisms ; 
one, in regard to a date, and the other, that he thought 
it was the Credit Foncier and not the Credit Mobilier 
that Mr. Train asked me to subscribe to in iS66-6y. 
When I read the paragraph in which I stated that I 
had once borrowed $300 of him, he remarked, ' I 
believe I did let you have some money, but I had 
forgotten it.' He said nothing to indicate that he 
regarded me as having purchased the stock ; and 
from that conversation, I did not doubt that he re- 
garded my statement substantially correct. His first 
testimony, given a few days afterward, confirmed me 
in this opinion. 

I had another interview with Mr. Ames, of my own 
seeking, to which he alludes elsewhere ; and for a 
full understanding of it, a statement of some previous 
facts is necessary. I gave my testimony before the 
committee, and in Mr. Ames' hearing, on the morn- 
ing of January 14. It consisted of the statement I 
had already read to Mr. Ames, and of the cross-exam- 
ination which followed my reading of the statement, 
all of which has been quoted above. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 293 

During that afternoon, while I was in the manage- 
ment of an appropriation bill in the House, word was 
brought to me that Mr. Ames, on coming out of the 
committee-room, had declared, in the hearing of 
several reporters, that ' Garfield was in league with 
Judge Black to break him down ; that it was $400, 
not ^^300, that he had let Garfield have, who had not 
only never repaid it, but had refused to repay it.' 
Though this report of Mr. Ames' alleged declaration 
was subsequently found to be false, and was doubtless 
fabricated for the purpose of creating difficulty, yet 
there were circumstances which, at the time, led me 
to suppose that the report was correct. One was, 
that Judge Black (who was McComb's counsel in the 
suit against Ames) was present at my examination, 
and had drawn out on cross-examination my opinion 
of the nature of Mr. Ames' relation to the Credit 
Mobilier company and the Union Pacific company ; 
and the other was, that in Mr. Ames' testimony of 
December 17, he had said, 'He (Mr. Garfield) had 
some money from me once, some three or four hun- 
dred dollars, and called it a loan.' The sum of four 
hundred dollars had thus been mentioned in his 
testimony, and it gave plausibility to the story that 
he was now claiming that, as the amount he had 
loaned me. 

Supposing that Mr. Ames had said what was re- 
ported, I was deeply indignant ; and, with a view ul 
drawing from him a denial or retraction of the state- 
ment, or, if he persisted in it, to pay him twice over, 
so that he could no longer say or pretend that there 



294 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

existed between us any unsettled transaction, I drew 
some money from the office of the sergeant-at-arms, 
and, going to my committee-room, addressed him 
the following note : 

House of Representatives, 

January 14, 1873. 

Sir : — I have just been informed, to my utter amaze- 
ment, that, after coming out of the committee-room 
this morning, you said in the presence of several re- 
porters that you had loaned me four, instead of three, 
hundred dollars, and that I had not only refused to 
pay you, but was aiding your accusers to injure you 
in the investigation. I shall call the attention of the 
comm.ittee to it, unless I find I am misinformed, To 
bring the loan question to an immediate issue between 
us, I inclose herewith ^400. If you wish to do justice 
to the truth and to me, you will return it, and correct 
the alleged statement, if you made it. If not, you 
will keep the money, and thus be paid twice and more. 
Silence on your part will be a confession that you 
have deeply wronged me. 

J. A. Garfield. 

Hon. Oakes Ames. 

After the House had adjourned for the day, I 
found, on returning to my committee-room, that I had 
omitted to inclose the note with the money, which 
had been sent to the House post-office. I immediate- 
ly sought Mr. Ames to deliver the note, but failed to 
find him at his hotel, or elsewhere, that evening. 
Early the next morning, January 15, I found him, 
and delivered the note. He denied having said, or 
claimed, any of the things therein set forth, and wrote 
on the back of my letter the following : 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 295 

Washington, January 15, 1873. 
Dear Sir : — I return you your letter with inclosures, 
and I utterly deny ever having cciid that yov. refused 
to pay me, or that it was four, instead of three hun- 
dred dollars, or that you was aiding my accusers I 
a;so wish to say that there has never been any but 
the most friendly feelings between us, and no trans- 
action, in the least degree, that can be censured by 
any fair-minded person. I herewith return you the 
four hundred dollars as not belonging to me. 

Yours, truly, 

Oakes Ames. 
Hon. J. A. Garfield. 

From inquiry of the reporters, to whom the remarks 
were alleged to have been made, I had become satis- 
fied that the story was wholly false; and when Mr. 
Ames added his denial, I expressed to him my re- 
gret that I had written this note in anger and upon 
false information. I furthermore said to Mr. Ames 
that, if he had any doubt in reference to the repay- 
ment of the loan, I wished him to keep the money. 
He refused to keeo any part of it, and his conversa- 
tion indica::ed that he regarded all transactions be- 
tween us settled. 

Before I left his room, however, he said he had 
some memoranda which seemed to indicate that the 
money I had of him was on account of stock ; and 
asked me, if he did not, some time in 1868, deliver 
to me a statement to that effect. I told him if he had 
any account of that sort, I was neither aware of it, 
nor responsible for it ; and thereupon I made sub- 
stantially the following statement : 



296 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Mr. Ames, the only memoranda you ever showed 
me was in iS6y-68, when speaking to me of this 
proposed sale of stock, you figured out, on a little 
piece of paper, what you supposed would be realized 
from an investment of ^1,000; and, as I remember, 
you wrote down these figures : 

1,000 

1,000 

400 



2,400 
as to the amounts, you expected to realize. 

While saying this to Mr. Ames, I wrote the figures, 
as above, on a piece of paper lying on his table, to 
show him what the only statement was, he had ever 
made to me. It is totally false that these figures had 
any other meaning than that I have here given ; nor 
did I say anything, out of which could be fabricated 
such a statement. 

In his testimony of January 29, Mr. Ames gives a 
most remarkable account of this interview. Remem- 
bering the fact, by him undisputed, that there had 
been no communication between us on this subject, 
for more than four years before this investigation 
began, notice the following : 

Q. Did you have any conversation, in reference to 
the influence this transaction would have on the elec- 
tion last fall ? — A. Yes, he said it would be very in- 
jurious to him. 

Q. What else, in reference to that ? — A. I am a 
very bad man to repeat conversation ; I cannot re- 
member. 

That is, he makes me, on the 15th of January, 1873, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 297 

express the fear that this transaction will injure me 
in the election of October, 1872. 
Again : 

Q. You may state whether, in conversation with 
you, Mr. Garfield claims, as he claims before us, that 
the only transaction between you was borrowing 
;^5GO. — A. No, sir; he did not claim that with me. 

Q. State how he did claim it with you ; what was 
said.? — A. I cannot remember half of it. - * 

He [Garfield] stated, that when he came back from 
Europe, being in want of funds, he called on me, to 
loan him a sum of money. He thought he had re- 
paid it. I do not know ; I do not remember. * ^ 

Q. How long after that transaction [the offer to 
sell Credit Mobilier stock] did he go to Europe } — 
A. I believe it was a year or two. * * 

Q. Do you not know that he did not go to Europe 
for nearly two years afterward.? — A. No, I do not. 
It is my impression, it was two years afterward, but 
I cannot remember dates. 

I should think not, if this testimony is an example 
of his memory ! 

It is known to thousands of people, that I went to 
Europe in the summer of 1867, and at no other time. 
I sailed from New York on the 13th of July, 1867, 
spent several days of August, in Scotland, with 
Speaker Blaine and Senator Morrill of Vermont, 
and returned to New York on the 9th of the follow- 
ing November — three weeks before the beginning 
of the session of Congress. 

The books of the sergeant-at-arms of the House 
show that, before going, I had assigned several 
months' pay, in advance, to a banker, who had ad- 



298 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

vanced me money, for the expenses of the trip. To 
break the weight of this fact, which showed why I 
came to need a small loan, Mr. Ames says I did not 
go to Europe till nearly two years afterward. 

If a reason be sought why he gave such testimony, 
it may perhaps be found on the same page from 
which the last quotation is made : 

Q. How did you happen to retain that little stray 
memorandum.? — A. I do not know. I found it in 
my table two or three days afterward. I did not pay 
any attention to it at the time, until I found there 
was to be a conflict of testimony, and I thought that 
might be something worth preserving. 

How did he find out, after that time, that ' there 
was to be a conflict of testimony.?' The figures 
were made on that piece of paper, January 15, the 
day after I had given my testimony, and four weeks 
after he had given his first testimony. There was no 
conflict, except what he himself made ; and that con- 
flict was as marked between his first statement and 
his subsequent ones, as between the latter and mine. 

There runs through all his testimony, now under 
consideration, an intimation that I was in a state of 
alarm, was beseeching Mr. Ames to 'let me off 
easy,' *to say as little about it as possible,' 'to let 
it go as a loan,' * to save my reputation,' that I 'felt 
very bad,' was 'in great distress,' 'hardly knew 
what I said,' and other such expressions. 

I should have been wholly devoid of sensibility, if 
I had not felt keenly the suspicions, the false accu- 
sations, the reckless calumnies with which the pubHc 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 299 

mind was filled, while the investigation was in prog- 
ress. But there is not the smallest fragment of 
truth in the statement, or rather the insinuation, that 
I ever asked, or wanted, anything from Mr. Ames, 
on this subject, but simple justice and the truth. 

The spirit in which a portion of the public treated 
the men whose conduct was being investigated, may 
be understood from the following questions, put to 
Mr. Ames, in the midst of an examination, not at all 
relating to me : 

Q. In that conversation, with Mr. Garfield, was 
anything said, by him, about your being an old man, 
near the end of your career, and his being compara- 
tively a young man.? — A, No, sir; nothing of that 
sort. 

It is manifest that this question was suggested by 
some of the inventive bystanders, in hopes of making 
an item for a new sensation. 

The most absurd and exaggerated statements were 
constantly finding their way into the public press, in 
reference to every subject and person connected with 
the investigation, and this question is an illustration. 

In no communication with Mr. Ames, did I ever 
say anything inconsistent with my testimony before 
the committee. 

Conscious that I had done no wrong, from the be- 
ginning to the end of this affair, I had nothing to 
conceal, and no favors to ask, except that the whole 
truth should be known. I was in the committee- 
room but once, during the investigation, and I went 
then, only when summoned to give my testimony. 



300 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

From a review of the whole subject, the following 
conclusions are fairly and clearly established : 

I. That the Credit Mobilier company was a State 
corporation, regularly organized ; and that neither 
its charter, nor the terms of its contract, of October 
15, 1867, disclosed anything which indicated that the 
company was engaged in any fraudulent or improper 
enterprise. 

II. That seven persons, inside the Credit Mobilier 
company, calling themselves trustees, obtained the 
control of the franchises, and of a majority of the 
stock, of both the Credit Mobilier and of the Union 
Pacific railroad company ; and, while holding such 
double control, they made a contract with them- 
selves, by which they received, for building the road, 
a sum greatly beyond the real cost of construction: 
and, in adjusting the payments, they received stock 
and bonds of the railroad company, at a heavy dis- 
count. 

****** 

That these profits were distributed, not to the 
stockholders of the Credit Mobilier proper, but to 
the seven trustees, and their proxies — the holders 
of this stock — and that this arrangement was kept 
secret by its managers. 

III. That, in 1S67-8, Mr. Ames offered to sell 
small amounts of this stock to several leading mem- 
bers of Congress, representing it as an ordinary in- 
vestment, promising fair profits ; but, but in every 
such offer, he said nothing about any arrangement, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A GARFIELD. 301 

by which the profits were to be made, or what would 
be the amount of dividends likely to be realized. 
While thus offering this stock, he was writing to 
one of his associates, that he was disposing of the 
stock 'where it would do most good,' which seemed 
to intimate that he was thereby gaining influence 
in Congress, to prevent investigation into the af- 
fairs of the road. His letters, and the list of names, 
which he gave to McComb, represent many persons 
who never did buy or agree to buy it, and also repre- 
sent a much larger amount than he sold.^ Mr. 
Ames' letters and testimony contiin contradictions, 
not only of his own statements, but also of the 
statements of most of the other witnesses; and 
it is fair, in judging of its credibility, to take into 
some account his interests involved in the contro- 
versy. 

IV. That in reference to myself, the following 
points are clearly established by the evidence: 

I. That I neither purchased, nor agreed to pur- 
chase, the Credit Mobilier stock, which Mr. Ames 
offered to sell me ; nor did I receive any dividend 
arising from it. This appears from my own testi- 
mony ; and, from the first testimony given by Mr. 
Ames, which is not overthrown by his subsequent 
statements ; and is strongly confirmed by the fact 
that, in the case of each of those who did purchase 
the stock, there was produced, as evidence of the sale, 
either a certificate of stock, receipt of payment, a 
check drawn in the name of the payee, or entries in 
Mr. Ames' diary, of a stock account marked, adjusted, 



302 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and closed ; but, that no one of these evidences ex- 
ists, in reference to me. This position is further 
confirmed by the subsequent testimony of Mr. Ames, 
who, though he claims that I did receive ^329 from 
him on account of the stock, yet he repeatedly testi- 
fies that, beyond that amount, I never received or 
demanded any dividend, that he did not offer me 
any, nor was the subject alluded to, in conversation 
between us. 

Mr. Ames admits, that after December, 1867, the 
various stock and bond dividends, on the stock he 
had sold, amounted to an aggregate of more than 
800 per cent.; and, that between January, 1868, and 
May, 1 87 1, all these dividends were paid to several 
of those who purchased the stock. My conduct was 
wholly inconsistent with the supposition of such 
ownership; for, during the year 1869, I was borrow- 
ing money, to build a house here, in Washington, 
and was securing my creditors by giving mortgages 
on my property ; and, all this time, it is admitted 
that I received no dividends, and claimed none. 

The attempt to prove a sale of the stock to me, is 
wholly inconclusive ; for it rests, first, on a check 
payable to Mr. Ames himself, concerning which, he 
several times says he does not know to whom it was 
paid ; and second, upon loose, undated entries in 
his diary, which neither prove a sale of the stock nor 
any payment on account of it. 

The only fact from which it is possible for Mr. 
Ames to have inferred an agreement to buy the 
stock, was the loan to me, of ;^300. But that loan 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3O3 

was made months before the check of June 22, 1868, 
and was repaid in the winter of 1869; and, after that 
date, there were no transactions of any sort between 
us. 

And finally, before the investigation was ended, 
Mr. Ames admitted that, on the chief point of differ- 
ence between us, he might be mistaken. 

He said he 'considered me the purchaser of the 
stock, unless it was borrowed money I had of him ; ' 
and, at the conclusion of his last testimony, he said : 

Mr. Garfield understands this matter as a loan ; he 
says I did not explain it to him. 

Q. You need not say what Mr. Garfield says. Tell 
us what you think. 

A. Mr. Garfield might have misunderstood me. * 

* I supposed it was like all the rest, but when 
Mr. Garfield says he mistook it for a loan ; that he 
always understood it to be a loan ; that I did not 
make an)/ explanation to him, and did not make any 
statement to him ; I may be mistaken I am a man 
of few words, and I may not have made myself un- 
derstood to him. 

2. That the offer which Mr. Ames made to me, as 
I understood it, was one which involved no wrong 
or impropriety. I had no reason to believe that 
behind this offer to sell a small amount of stock 
lay any scheme to defraud the Pacific railroad, or 
imperil the interests of the United States. 1 was not 
invited to become a party to any scheme of spoliation, 
much less was I aware of any attempt to influence 
my legislative action, or any subject connected there- 



304 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

with. And, on the first intimation that such might 
be the nature of the case, I declined any further con- 
sideration of the subject. 

3. That whatever may have been the facts in the 
case, I stated them in my testimony, as I have always 
understood them ; and there has been no contradic- 
tion, prevarication, or evasion, on my part. 

This is demonstrated by the fact that I stated the 
case to Mr. Robison, in the spring of 1868, and to 
Mr. Hinsdale, in the autumn of that year, and to 
Judge Black, in the winter of 1869-70, substantially 
as it is stated in my testimony before the committee. 

I have shown that, during the presidential cam- 
paign, I did not deny having known anything about 
the Credit Mobilier company ; that the statement 
published in the Cincinnati Gazette, September 15, 
is substantially in accord with my testimony before 
the committee ; and finally, that during the progress 
of the investigation, there was nothing in my con- 
versation, or correspondence with Mr. Ames, in any 
way, inconsistent with the facts as given in my testi- 
mony. To sum it up, in a word : out of an unim- 
portant business transaction, the loan of a trifling 
s\>m of money, as a matter of personal accommoda- 
tion, and out of an offer, never accepted, has arisen 
this famous fabric of accusation and suspicion. 

If there be a citizen of the United States, who is 
willing to believe that, for ^329, I have bartered 
away my good name, and to falsehood, have added 
perjury, these pages are not addressed to him. If 
there be one who thinks that any part of my public 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 305 

life has been gauged on so low a level as these churges 
would place it, I do not address him — I a.ddress those 
who are willing to believe that it is possible for a 
man to serve the public without personal dishonor. 

If any scheming corporations, or corrupt rings 
have ever found in me a conscious supporter, or 
ally, in any dishonorable scheme, they are at full 
liberty to disclose it. In the discussion of the many 
grave and difficult questions of public policy, which 
have occupied the thoughts of the nation, during the 
last twelve years, I have borne some part ; and I 
confidently appeal to the public records for a vindi- 
cation of my conduct." 

Since the excitement concerning the Credit Mobi- 
lier has passed away, public opinion in regard to it, 
and concerning General Garfield's connection with it 
has undergone a great change; and while the be- 
havior of Hon. Oakes Ames is regarded in a much 
more favorable light, no man, unless he is the most 
reckless and foolish of scandal-mongers, could now 
throw any blame upon General Garfield, in connec- 
tion with it. His whole life has been consistent, 
straight forward, and honest, which even his bitter 
political enemies will not now deny. 



There was another political disturbance, in con- 
nection with the vote of Congress, in 1872, to in- 
crease the salary of its members, and for which 
General Garfield voted, under protest, as the measure 
was combined with others he wished very much to 
20 



306 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

see passed. General Garfield sent to his constitu- 
ents an explanation of the matter, when he saw how 
sadly they had misconstrued his motives and his 
action. It is a complete history of the affair in itself, 
and is given in full : 

HiKAM, Ohio, April 2i, 1S73. 

On the 3d day of March, the day that completed 
the tenth year of my service as your Representative 
in Congress, I cast a vote, in company with one hun- 
dred and one other Representatives, on account of 
which it appears that the following resolution has 
lately been adopted by a convention of delegates at 
Warren, called to nominate a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention : 

Resolved, That James A. Garfield, in voting for the retroactive sal- 
ary bill, has forfeited the confidence of his constituents, and, there- 
fore, we, the representatives of the Republican party of Trumbull 
County, in convention assembled, ask him to resign forthwith his 
office as our Representative in Congress. 

The officers of that convention have not favored 
me with a copy of the resolution, and I have learned 
of its terms only through the press and private com- 
munications. Presuming that the above is the cor- 
rect text of the resolution, and waiving all question 
of the jurisdiction and authority of that convention 
to sit in judgment on the subject, I respond to the 
resolution itself. In doing so I assume that those 
who framed it were animated only by a sense of pub- 
lic duty. I will assume also that they were willing 
and even anxious to do me justice, and to state fairly 
and truthfully my alleged offense. This, however, 
they have not done. 

The language of the resolution implies that I voted 
to give additional back pay to members of Congress. 
It assumes that the retroactive pay was the chief 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 30/ 

provision of the bill for which I did vote. Now, just 
such a bill as that language describes was brought 
into the House, for the purpose of fastening it as an 
amendment to one of the leading appropriation bills. 
That effort I resisted at every stage. The bill for 
which I did vote now fills twenty-seven pages of the 
national statute-book. The offensive retroactive 
clause is. contained in three lines of the statute. 

Whether I ought or ought not to have voted for the 
appropriation bill, with the retroactive salary clause in- 
corporated in it, depends upon the merits and demer- 
its of the bill as a whole. Whether I am in any way 
responsible for its offensive provisions depends upon 
what efforts I made, or failed to make, to prevent 
their adoption. 

That it may be clearly understood what I did on 
this subject, I will briefly state the facts. 

As Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations 
it was my duty to see that the annual appropriation 
bills were acted upon in the House before the Forty- 
Second Congress expired. To do this it was neces- 
sary to press them constantly, and to the exclusion 
of a great mass .of other business. For this purpose 
chiefly the House was in session from ten to fifteen 
hours in each twenty-four during the last week of the 
term. 

I had special charge of the legislative appropria- 
tion bill, upon the preparation of which my commit- 
tee had spent nearly two weeks of labor before the 
meeting of Congress. It was the most important of 
the twelve annual bills. Its provisions reached every 
ipart of the machinery of the Government in all the 
States and Territories of the Union. The amount 
■appropriated by it was one-seventh of the total annual 
(Expenditures of the Government, exclusive of the 
■interest on the public debt. It contained all the 
ippropriations required by law for the legislative 



308 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

department of the Government ; for the public print 
ing and binding ; for the President and the officen 
and employes at the Executive Mansion ; for tlu 
seven executive departments at Washington, and al 
their bureaus and sub-divisions ; for the sub-treasu 
ries and public depositaries in fourteen cities of the 
Union ; for all the officers and agents employed ir 
the assessment and collection of the internal revenue 
for the governments of the nine Territories and o 
the District of Columbia ; for the mints and th( 
assay offices ; for the land offices and the surveys o 
public lands; and for all the courts, judges, distric 
attorneys, and marshals of the United States. Be 
sides this, during its progress through the twi 
Houses, many provisions had been added to the bil 
which were considered of vital importance to tliL 
public interests. A section had been added in the 
Senate to force the Pacific railroad companies to pa) 
the arrears of interest on the bonds loaned to then 
by the United States, and to commence refunding' 
the principal. 

An investigating committee of the House hac 
unearthed enormous frauds committed by and agains 
these companies, and as the result of two months| 
labor had framed a bill of several sections to provide 
for bringing suits in the courts to recover the vas 
sums of which the road and Government had beei 
plundered, and to prevent further spoliation. Tha 
bill had also been made a part of the appropriatioi 
bill. 

While the bill was first passing through th( 
House, repeated efforts were made to increase tin 
salaries of different officers of the Government ; ii 
every instance I resisted these efforts, and but litth 
increase was made until forty-eight hours before th( 
Congress expired, when the House loaded upon thi 
bill an amendment increasing the salaries of th' 



I OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 309 

iPresident, Vice-President, judges of the Supreme 
'Court, and members of Congress, including those of 
the Forty-Second Congress. 

An unsuccessful effort had been made three weeks 
before to fasten that amendment upon another ap- 
propriation bill of which I had charge. In the 
struggle to fasten it upon this bill there was a 
ilengthy debate, in which its merits and demerits 
'were fully discussed. In that debate I bore my full 
share in opposing the amendment. Before it was 
finally adopted there were eighteen different votes 
itaken in the House and the Committee of the Whole 
ion its merits and its management. On each and all 
of these I voted adversely to the amendment. Six 
years ago, when the salaries of Congressmen were 
raised and the pay was made to date back sixteen 
months, I had voted against the increase ; and now, 
Ibearing more responsibility for the appropriations 
■than ever before, I pursued the same course. No 
act of mine during this struggle can be tortured into 
la willingness to allow this amendment to be fastened 
to the bill. But all opposition was overborne by 
majorities ranging from three to fifty-three, and the 
bill with this amendment added was sent to the Sen- 
ate Saturday evening, the ist of March. If the Sen- 
ate had struck out the amendment, they could have 
compelled the House to abandon it or take the re- 
sponsibility of losing the bill. But the Senate re- 
fused, by a vote of nearly two to one, to strike out 
the salary clause or any part of it ; and many Sena- 
tors insisted that with the abolition of mileage and 
other allowances $6,500 was no real increase, and 
jthat the rate should be greater. The bill then went 
'to a conference committee with sixty-five unadjusted 
|amendments pending between the two Houses. 

The battle against the salary clause was fought 
and lost before the appropriation bill went to the 



^ i 



3IO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



conference committee. The Speaker of the House 
and the President of the Senate both recognized the 
fact in appointing their respective committees of 
conference. In announcing the committee of con- 
ference on the part of the House, the Speaker said : 

" There are several points of difference between the two Houses of 
exceeding importance. It is the duty of the Chair to adjust the con- 
ference so as to represent those points upon which the House most I 
earnestly insists. The three points of difference especially involved 
are the subject of salaries of members and other officers, what is 
styled the Morrill amendment, and the provision in regard to the Pa- 
cific railroad. The Chair thinks that so far as he can analyze the 
votes of the House on these propositions, that the following conferees 
will fairly represent the views of the House on the various quesiions : 
Mr. Garfield of Ohio, Mr. Butler of Massachusetts, and Mr. 
Randall of Pennsylvania." 

I was appointed chairman because I had charge 
of the bill. Messrs. Butler and Randall were ap- 
pointed because they represented the declared will 
of the House on the salary question. They were 
not members of the Committee on Appropria 
tions, and were not familiar with the other provis- 
ions of the bilL The salary clause was the first 
of the sixty-five amendments referred to the com- 
mittee, and six full hours were spent in consider- 
ing it. Notwithstanding the fact that the battle 
against the salary clause was already lost, I made 
the best effort I could to retrieve it in the conference 
committee. I faithfully presented the considerations 
urged against it by the minority in the House, and 
moved to strike out the clause relating to congres- 
sional salaries. The Senate conferees were unani- 
mous against the motion, and my two associates 
agreed with them. I moved to strike out the retro 
active feature, and the vote stood as before. By the 
same majority the amount was fixed at $7,500 
There was no longer any doubt that the salary 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31 1 

I clause must stand or fall with the bill. It was clear 
i that a majority of the committee represented the 
judgment of the two Houses. 

In this situation there were but two courses be- 
I fore me : one was to refuse to act with the confer- 
' ence committee, abandon the bill to Mr. Butler, the 
j next on the conference, and go into the House and 
I oppose its final passage ; the other was to stand by 
1 the bill, make it as perfect as possible, limit and re- 
1 duce the amount of the appropriation as much as 
' could be done, and report it to the House for pas- 
i sage. 

In a w^ord, I was called upon to decide this ques- 
'tion: Is the salary amendment so impolitic, so un- 
Iwise, so intolerable, that in order to prevent its be- 
i coming a law the whole bill ought to be defeated.? 
If so, it was the duty of both the Senate and the 
House to defeat it ; and if they passed it, it was the 
duty of the President to veto it. Upon the decision 
I then made, and the reasons for and against it, I 
invoke the judgment of my constituents ; for there, ' 
if anywhere in the course of this legislation, I for- 
feited my claim to their confidence. 

If the enactment of this amendment into a law 
was itself a crime, then any bill, however important 
it might be. to which it was attached, ought to be 
defeated. No public emergency can justify theft or 
robbery. But load as this amendment was in some 
of its provisions, it is an abuse of language and of 
truth to call it either theft or robbery. On the con- 
trary, many of the items of increase were acknowl- 
jedged to be just, even by those who opposed the 
amendment most earnestly. It was clearly within 
the constitutional power of Congress to pass that 
[clause. The Constitution makes it their duty to fix 
'the salary of all officers of the Government, includ- 
ing their own. 



312 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 






The retroactive pay provided for in this amend- 
ment, unwise, indelicate, and inaefensible as I be- 
lieve it to have been, was in accordance with all the 
precedents, for every increase of pay of members of 
Congress since the adoption of the Constitution has 
applied to the whole term of the Congress that au- 
thorized it. It was not a crime, and we have no 
right to say that those who advocated it were thieves 
and robbers. I opposed the whole scheme of in- 
crease of salaries chiefly on two grounds : 

First. That officers at the national Capital were 
already receiving higher rates of pay than many of 
those serving at a distance ; and that if we began 
to increase salaries at the Capital, and particularly 
our own, it would be indecent and unjust not to go 
through the whole list and make the increase gener- 
al. To do this would greatly increase the expendi- 
tures already overgrown by the results of the war ; 
and, 

Second. I opposed it because I thought it pecul- 
iarly impolitic for the Forty-Second Congress to give 
any new cause for bringing itself into public odium. 
Much had already occurred to throw discredit upon 
it, and this would add a new shade to the colors in 
which it was being painted. 

On the other hand, there were grave objections to 
the defeat of the appropriation bill. Everybody 
knew that its failure would render an extra session 
of the new Congress inevitable. It is easy to say 
now that this would have been better than to allow i 
the passage of the salary clause. Present evils al- | 
ways seem greater than those that never come. The ' 
opinion was almost universal that an extra session 
would be a serious evil in many ways, and especially | 
to the Treasury. Its cost, directly and indirectly, ! 
would far exceed the amount appropriated for retro- 
active salaries. An unusual amount of dangerous 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3I3 

legislation was pressing upon Congress for action. 
A measure to refund the cotton tax, which would 
take seventy millions from the Treasury, was pressed 
by a powerful orf;anization in and out of Congress, 
and its consideration had only been prevented by in- 
terposing the appropriation bills. A vast number 
of doubtful claims growing out of the war were ready 
to follow in the wake of the cotton tax. To organize 
a new Congress, which would require the appoint 
ment and organization of new committees, and to 
begin this bill anew, perfect its details, and pass it, 
would require many weeks. In the meantime the 
field would be clear for pushing all schemes against 
the Treasury. 

But more than this, the defeat of the bill would 
carry with it the defeat of the only legislation by 
which Congress has attempted for many years to 
check the career of those greedy corporations whose 
powers have become so dangerous to the public wel- 
fare. For the first time Congress was thoroughly 
aroused to the danger ; and the sections concerning 
the Pacific railroad, which had been added to this 
bill, empowered and directed the executive, through 
the courts, to strike an eftective blow against those 
who had already robbed the Pacific railroad at the 
expense of the National Treasury. If these sections 
failed, it was by no means ce tain that the new Con- 
gress would pass them ; and if it did, the interests of 
the Government would greatly suffer by the delay. 

Only a single day and night remained before the 
final adjournment, and three other great appropri- 
ation bills were still unfinished. 

These considerations were inseparably connected 
with the defeat of this appropriation bill. I knew 
that if it failed from any act of mine, the responsi- 
bility for its failure would rest more heavily on me 
than upon any other member. I had been made 



i 



314 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

responsible for its management, but was in no way 
responsible for the adoption of the salary amend- 
ment. 

After weighing the case as well as I could, I con- 
cluded it was my duty to stand by the bill ; and I 
did so. 

I remained in the conference, and did what I 
could to perfect the bill and reduce the amount ap- 
propriated by it. On my motion the following pro- 
viso was made a part of the bill : *' Provided, That in 
settling the pay and allowances of members of the 
Forty-Second Congress, all mileage shall be de- 
ducted, and no allowances shall be made for expenses 
of travel." The sum deducted from the additional 
back pay, under this proviso, amounted in the aggre- 
gate to nearly $400,000 ; and the pay to the mem- 
bers of the late Congress is made less than those of 
the next Congress by the total amount of actual 
traveling expenses. 

The other sixty-four amendments to the bill were 
satisfactorily adjusted, after many hours of delibera- 
tion. Having done what I could to perfect the bill, 
I signed the conference report and presented it to 
the House; but in doing so I stated that I alone 
bad opposed the salary clause in the conference com- 
mittee, and had done what I could to strike it out, 
and that I had signed the report rather than run the 
risk of losing the bill. I then voted for the bill, not 
for ihe increase of salaries nor for the retroactive 
clause, for I was opposed to both, but for the bill as 
a whole. 

It is clear that it would have passed if I had voted 
against it. But believing that it was better to pass 
the bill, even with the salary amendment included, 
than risk the consequences of its failure, I voted for 
it. It would have been an inconsistent and cowardly 
act on my part to vote against it merely to escape 
criticism. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 315 

If the bill, as reported from the conference com- 
mittee, ought to have been defeated, there was one 
well-known and very easy way to do it. One-fifth of 
the members present, by dilatory and filibustering 
motions and calling the ayes and noes, could have 
prevented a vote on the report till the end of the 
session. Should the ninety-six members who voted 
against the conference report be censured for not 
preventing its adoption ? Less than half of their 
number could easily have done so. But no one of 
them, so far as I know, thought it his duty to defeat 
the bill. Certainly I did not think it the duty of the 
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations to 
lead such a movement. 
j It has been said that the conference report might 
I have been recommitted for a further attempt to 
strike off the salary clause. The answer to this is, 
that the House, on an aye and no vote, by nineteen 
majority, ordered the question to be put on the 
adoption of the report. 

The plain fact is, that the final vote on the bill 

was not a test of the sentiments of members of the 

I House on the salary question. The responsibility 

for the increase of salaries rests upon those who 

I forced the amendment upon the bill. 

I There is one feature of the case to which I refer 

I with great reluctance, and with a deep sense of the 

I injustice that is done me. It is charged that I voted 

for the bill for the purpose of putting $5,000 of back 

I pay into my own pocket. I fearlessly appeal to 

friends and enemies alike to say whether any act of 

my public life has warranted them in imputing to 

me unworthy and mercenary motives. The point 

here raised is one to which I did not intend to refer 

I in this letter. I preferred to leave my personal 

motives to the future for vindication. But already, 

without my knowledge or procurement, a paragraph 



3l6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

has found its way to the press which makes it proper 
for me to say what I did not wish paraded in public, 
that I not only did not receive the back pay nor any 
part of it, but I ordered it so covered into the gen- 
eral Treasury as to be placed beyond the reach of 
myselt or my heirs. 

1 have thus stated the facts in the case, that you 
may know precisely what I did, and the reasons for 
it. I desire that this and every other act of my pub- 
lic life shall be fully known to you. Ten years ago 
you called me from another field of duty and honor 
to represent you in the national Legislature. Since 
then you have expressed your confidence and esteem 
in many ways, and in none more strikingly than in 
the five re-elections with which you have honored 
me. 

I have not been insensible to these evidences of 
your approval. I have conscientiously sought to 
serve you and the country with the best of my 
ability. I have spared neither time nor labor faith- 
fully to discharge the duties of the place assigned 
me. 

Doubtless I have made my full share of mistakes 
and blunders, and my vote on this bill may have 
added another to the list. I respect no man the less 
for thinking so, but in this as in all my official con- 
duct I acted for what I regarded the public good, i 
Whether wise or unwise, defensible or indefensible, | ' 
that vote had the approval of my judgment, and I do i E 
not shrink from any responsibility growing out of it. | i 

But I do not affect to conceal my surprise and dis- i 
appointment at the construction which has been 
given to that vote. Probably no man who, conscious 
of his own integrity, has served a constituency as ! 
long as I have served you could see the basest of \ 
motives attributed to him and listen to a public 
demand for his instant resignation with indilTerence. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31/ 

Certainly I cannot. Were I to follow my own incli- 
nations merely, I would at once abandon a position so 
difficult to fill acceptably, and which the assaults of 
calumny have rendered on so many accounts unde- 
sirable. But the charge on which the demand of 
the Warren convention is based is an injustice to 
which I cannot consent. The principle on which it 
is made rises above any merely personal considera- 
tion. If I ought to resign for casting this vote, 
every elective officer should resign whenever any of 
his official acts, done in good faith, are strongly dis- 
approved by those who elected him. If the delegates 
believe that the retroactive clause is so infamous that 
I ought to resign for voting for the appropriation 
bill to which it was attached, will they follow out 
their logic and insist that the President ought to 
resign for signing it ? My vote did not make it a 
law. His signature did. I do not consent to the 
logic that leads to such a conclusion. 

The facts are before you. I am ready anywhere 

and at any time to make good the statements herein 

set forth, and upon the facts I appeal from the action 

of the convention to your more deliberate judgment. 

Very respectfully, 

JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

Immediately upon receiving the check for the in- 
crease of his salary. General Garfield sent it to the 
United States treasurer, and it was covered into the 
treasury. 



3l8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LABORS IN CONGRESS. 

APPOINTMENT ON COMMITTEES. — VARIETY OF WORK. — HIS LEADER- 
SHIP, — LIST OF SPEECHES. — THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. — A 
SPEECH IN WALL STREET. — VIEWS ON FINANCES. — RESUMPTION 
OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. 

General Garfield's labors in Congress were of 
the most varied and arduous character. It seems 
incredible that one man could make so many speech- 
es, write out so many bills, attend so many commit- 
tee hearings, and appear so punctually in his seat as 
he has done. He carried the affairs of the Military 
committee as its practical head, until the chairman- 
ship of the Ways and Means committee, which was 
given him, took him into a wider field. For many 
years he was the leader of the House in matters re- 
quiring hard work ; and after the election of Mr. 
Blaine to the Senate, he was regarded by the Repub- 
lican party as their leader and oracle, in all their 
debates and controversies with the other party. He 
studied, wrote and spoke about a vast variety of topics, 
concerning widely different themes, and, as all admit, 
with ability and good judgment. He delivered ad- 
dresses in the House, which have often been quoted 
with respect by eminent scholars, upon public lands, 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 319 

river navigation, contagious diseases, revenue, cur- 
rency, duties, specie payments, Arctic explorations, 
science, schools, manufactories, commerce, agricul- 
ture, appropriations, law trials, Chinese immigration, 
diplomatic affairs, war claims, fisheries, polygamy, 
pensions, constitutional amendments, banks, slavery, 
treaties with foreign nations, trade with Canada, elec- 
toral count, reconstruction. State rights, and hundreds 
more ; and, all the while, was assiduously at work as 
a member of the most important committees. His 
eminent legal knowledge pointed him out at once as 
the proper statesman for the examination of the 
Louisiana trouble, for drifting constitutional amend- 
ments and impeachment reports, and for a place on 
that most august of all our national tribunals, the 
electoral commission, for adjusting the contested 
election case between R. B. Hayes and Samuel J. 
Tilden, the claimants for the presidential chair. 

His study, at odd moments, of questions of science 
and education, made him a prominent member of the 
Board of reoents of the Smithsonian Institute, and 
his love of literature secured the honorary member- 
ship in many of the leading literary societies in this 
country, and of the " Cobden Club," in London, on 
motion of John Bright. 

During those years of restless activity, he wrote 
articles for magazines, and the many addresses which 
he delivered, at schools, colleges, celebrations, anni- 
versaries and political meetings. Among his speech- 
es, none seems to have given him greater celebrity, 
tlian the short exclamation which he made to the 



320 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

crowd in Wall street, on the evening after the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln. The accounts in the 
public press gave it as follows : 

An enormous crowd had gathered at the Wall 
street Exchange. The wrath of the workingmen 
was simply uncontrollable, and revolvers and knives 
were in the hands of thousands of Lincoln's friends, 
ready to avenge the death of the martyred president, 
without being careful to consider who deserved pen- 
alty. Speeches from Butler and Dickinson had done 
nothing to appease the gathering wrath of the mob. 
Two men had been beaten — one lay dead, the other 
dangerously wounded — for declaring that Lincoln 
ought to have been hung long ago. Some had made 
a rude gallows out of scantling, witli a looped halter 
hanging from it Suddenly some one raised a shout, 
''The World ! the World ! the office of the World ! " 
It was the signal for a surging movement which a 
moment later would have been a terrible march. Just 
then a man stepped forward, with a small flag in his 
hand, and beckoned to the crowd. Another tele- 
gram from Washington ! And then, in the awful 
stillness of the crisis, taking advantage of the hesi- 
tation of the crowd, a right arm was lifted skyward, 
and a voice clear and steady, loud and distinct, spoke 
out : " Fellow citizens ! Clouds and darkness are 
round about Him ! His pavilion is dark waters and 
thick clouds of the skies ! Justice and judgment are 
the establishment of his throne ! Mercy and truth 
shall go before his face ! Fellow citizens ! God 
reigns, and the government at Washington still 
lives ! " The effect was tremendous. The crowd 
stood riveted to the ground in awe, gazing at the 
motionless orator, and thinking of God and the 
security of the government in that hour. As the 
boiling wave subsides and settles to the sea, when 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 32 1 

some strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of 
the people sank and became still. All took it as a 
divine omen. It was a triumph of eloquence, in- 
spired by the moment, such as falls to but one man's 
lot, and that but once in a century. 

His political speeches were made the texts of his 
party, and his services were eagerly sought for in 
every doubtful State. His published speeches are 
well worth preserving, and of being read again and 
again. Some of his addresses, includirig as large a 
variety as possible, in order to show the versatility 
of his talents, are included in this volume. 

During his first session he declared his views upon 
the finances of the nation ; and, as the consistency 
of his career on matters of finance may be of inter- 
est to all who study his life, extracts from two of his 
speeches are given here together. The first is a brief 
statement of his views in 1866 ; the second is a more 
elaborate discussion, made in Chicago in 1879. The 
remarks iu Congress in 1866, were as follows : 

Mr. Speaker, there is no leading financier, no 
leading statesman now^ living, or one who has lived 
within the last half century, in whose opinion the 
gentleman can find any support. They all declare, 
as the Secretary of the treasury declares, that the 
only honest basis of value is a currency, redeemable 
in specie, at the will of the holder. I am an advocate 
of paper money, but that paper money must repre- 
sent what it professes on its face. I do not wish to 
hold in my hands the printed lies of the government 
I want its promises to pay, signed by the high offi- 
cers of the government, , sacredly kept in the exact 
meaning of the words of the promise. 
21 



322 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Let us not continue this conjurer's art, by which 
sixty cents shall discharge a debt of one hundred 
cents. I do not want industry, everywhere, to be 
thus crippled and wounded, and its wounds plastered 
over with legally authorized lies. 

An Extract from General Garfield's speech upon 
the suspension and resumption of Specie Payments, 
before the Honest Money League of Chicago, January 
2, 1879, was printed as follows : 

Successful Resumption will greatly aid in bringing 
into the murky sky of our politics, what the signal 
service people call ''clearing weather." It puts an 
end to a score of controversies which have long vexed 
the public mind, and wrought mischief to business. 
It ends the angry contention over the difference 
between the money of the bond-holder and the money 
of the plow-holder. It relieves enterprising Congress- 
men of the necessity of introducing twenty-five or 
thirty bills a session to furaish the people with cheap 
money, to prevent gold-gambling, and to make cus- 
tom duties payable in greenbacks. It will dismiss to 
the limbo of things forgotten, such Utopian schemes 
as a currency based upon the magic circle of intercon- 
vertibility of two different forms of irredeemable paper, 
and the schemes of a currency, " based on the public 
faith," and secured by '* all the resources of the na- 
tion," in general, but upon no particular part of them. 
We shall still hear echoes of the old conflict, such as 
''the barbarism and cowardice of gold and silver," 
and the virtues of " fiat money ; " but the theories 
which gave them birth will linger among us like 
belated ghosts, and soon find rest in the political 
grave of dead issues. All these will take their places 
in history alongside of the resolution of Varsittart, 
in 1811, that '* British paper had not fallen, but gold 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 323 

had risen in value, and the declaration of CastJereagh, 
in the House of Commons, that "the money standard 
is a sense of value in reference to currency as com- 
pared with commodities," and the opinion of another 
member, who declared that the standard is neither 
gold nor silver, but something set up in the imagina- 
tion to be regulated by public opinion." 

When we have fully awakened from these vague 
dreams, public opinion will resume its old channels, 
and the wisdom and experience of the fathers of our 
constitution will again be acknowledged and followed. 

We shall agree, as our fathers did, that the yard- 
stick shall have length, the pound must have weight 
and the dollar must have value in itself, and that 
neither length, nor weight, nor value can be created 
by the fiat of law. Congress, relieved of the arduous 
task of regulating and managing all the business of 
our people, will address itself to the humbler but 
more important work of preserving the public peace, 
and managing wisely the revenues and expenditures 
of the government. Industry will no longer wait for 
the legislature to discover easy roads to sudden 
wealth, but will begin again to rely upon labor and 
frugality, as the only certain road to riches. Prosperi- 
ty, which has long been waiting, is now ready to 
come. If we do not rudely repulse her, she will soon 
revisit our people, and will stay until another period- 
ical craze shall drive her away. 



324 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HIS PRESENT POSITION. 

ELECTION AS SENATOR. — A SCHOLAR. — AN ORATOR. — A POOR MAN. — 
"WINS THE RESPECT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. — SPEECH BEFORE 
THE OHIO LEGISLATURE. — THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. — GENERAL 
GARFIELD'S SPEECH. —HIS NOMINATION. — HIS LETTER OP ACCEPT- 
ANCE. — CONCLUSION. 

This volume appears at a time when the subject 
of this biography is most prominently before the 
American people, as a candidate for the office of 
President of the nation. It is but a few months 
since he was elected to the United States Senate by 
the unanimous vote of his party in the Ohio legisla- 
ture. Thus, while he has not seen active service in 
the Senate, he has been promoted in the political 
ranks, step by step, until now the highest office is 
also offered. 

Coming thus to the close of this book, it is fitting 
that a view should here be taken of his present social 
and political position. As a scholar, he holds a high 
rank in our nation, and his talents as a thinker, 
writer and orator, have long been recognized by our 
greatest philosophers, teachers, and essayists. 

He is a poor man, and never was in affluent cir- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 32$ 

cumstances. He has a modest house at Washing- 
ton, and a comfortable little farm and dwelling at 
Mentor, Ohio. But these represent more than his 
actual financial worth, inasmuch as he is not out of 
debt. He can not have cheated the people, nor can 
he have swindled the government, as has been so 
often charged against candidates for office; for he 
possesses very little property, and lives in a very 
frugal style. His house, his carriage, and his cloth- 
ing, are plain and cheap, having nothing about them 
suggestive of opulence or display. 

He is a genial, sociable companion, and a kind 
neio-hbor. His neisfhbors love and honor him most. 
The citizens of his Congressional district seem to 
idolize him beyond reason. He is more than popu- 
lar. He is loved. 

He holds the respect of his political opponents, 
and with all his hard blows, they never accuse him 
of insincerity, or of dishonorable intention. They 
say that he treats them fairly ; and often quote his 
speech before the Ohio legislature, January 14, 
1880, the day after his election as U. S. Senator, 
as a characteristic act. In that he said : 

I recognize the importance of the place to which 
you have elected me ; and I should be base, if I did 
not also recognize the great man whom you have 
elected me to succeed. I say for him, Ohio has had 
few larger-minded, broader-minded men in the rec- 
ords of our history, than that of Allen G. Thurman. 
Differing widely from him as I have done in politics, 
and do, I recognize him as a man high in character 
and great in intellect ; and I take this occasion to re- 



326 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

fer to what I have never before referred to in public, 
that many years ago, in the storm of party fight- 
ing, when the air was filled with all sorts of missiles 
aimed at the character and reputation of public men, 
when it was even for his party interest to join the 
general clamor against me and my associates, Sena- 
tor Thurman said in public, in the campaign, on the 
stump — when men are as likely to say unkind things 
as at any place in the world — a most generous and 
earnest word of defense and kindness for me, which I 
shall never forget as long as I live. I say, moreover, 
that the flowers that bloom over the garden wall of 
party politics are the sweetest and most fragrant that 
bloom in the gardens of this world; and where we 
can early pluck them and enjoy their fragrance, it is 
manly and delightful to do so. 

The nomination for the presidency came to him, as 
all his promotions have come, unasked and unsought 
by him. The Republican convention of 1880 was 
held in session seven days, at Chicago, completing 
its nomination on June 9. To that convention Gen- 
eral Garfield was a delegate. He had no expectation 
of the nomination. But the two wings of that party 
were so antagonistic over the strenuous endeavors of 
one to nominate General U. S. Grant, and of the 
other to nominate James G. Blaine, that there was no 
hope of success for either. Under these circum- 
stances the delegates, after several days of discus- 
sion and balloting, turned to look for another name 
as potent as those before the convention, and to 
whom none could be opposed. In that situation the 
name of General Garfield attracted immediate atten- 
tion. 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 32/ 

General Garfield had labored and hoped for the 
nomination of the Hon. John Sherman of Ohio, and 
had nominated him in a model speech, a part of 
which is here inserted : 

Mr. President: — I have witnessed the extraordinary 
scenes of this convention with deep solicitude. No 
emotion touches my heart more quickly than senti- 
ment in honor of a great and noble character ; but as 
I sat on these seats and witnessed these demonstra- 
tions, it seemed to me that you were a human ocean 
in a tempest. I have seen the sea lashed into fury 
and tossed into spray, and its grandeur moves the 
soul of the dullest man. But I remember that it is 
not the billows, but the calm level of the sea, from 
which all hights and depths are measured ; when 
the storm has passed, and the hour of calm settles on 
the ocean, when the sunlight bathes its smooth sur- 
face, then the astronomer and surveyor take the 
level from which they measure all terrestrial hights 
and depths. 

Gentlemen of the convention , your present tem- 
per may not mark the healthful pulse of our people. 
When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions 
of this hour have subsided, we shall feel that calm level 
of public opinion below the storm from which the 
thoughts of a mighty people must be measured, and 
by which their final action will be determined. 

Not here in this brilliant circle, where 15.000 men 
and women are assembled, is the destiny of the Re- 
publican party to be decreed. Not here, where I see 
the enthusiastic faces of 756 delegates, waiting to cast 
their votes into the urn, and determine the choice of 
the republic, but by 4,000,000 Republican firesides 
where the thoughtful voters, with wives and children 
about them, with the calm thoughts inspired by love 
of home and love of country, with the history of the 



328 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

past, the hopes of the future, and the knowledge of 
the great men who have adorned and blessed our 
nation in days gone by. There, God prepares the 
verdict that shall determine the wisdom of our work 
to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heats of June, but 
in the sober quiet that comes to them between now 
and November, in the silence of deliberate judgment, 
will this great question be settled. 

But no sooner had the possibility of General Gar- 
field's nomination entered the minds of the delegates, 
than the current of opinion turned so rapidly towards 




THE WHITE HOUSE. 

him, as to cause men to say, who had no knowledge 
of the coming votes, '' I feel that Garfield will cer- 
tainly be nominated." With the sudden impulse of 
great and excitable bodies, and amid enthusiasm, 
bustle and wild excitement, his name was given to 
the country as the choice of a great party. It was 
another providential approval of a great statesman 
and an honest man. 

The letter which he wrote, accepting the nomina- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 329 

tion, was an important document to himself, to his 
party and to the country, and was printed as follows : 

Mentor, O.. Julv 12. 188-^. 

Dear Sir\ — On the evening of the 8th of June last, 
I had the honor to receive from you, in the presence 
of the committee of which you were the chairman, the 
official announcement that the Republican national 
convention of Chicago had that day nominated me 
for their candidate for President of the United States. 
I accept the nomination with gratitude for the con- 
fidence it implies, and with a deep sense of the re- 
sponsibilities it imposes. I cordially indorse the 
principles set forth in the platform- adopted by the 
convention. On nearly all the subjects of which it 
treats, my opinions are on record among the published 
proceedings of Congress. 1 venture, however, to make 
special mention of some of the principal topics which 
are likely to become the subject of discussion, with- 
out reviewing the controversies which have 1 een 
settled during the last twenty years, and with no pur- 
pose or wish to revive the passions of the late war. 

It should be said that, while the Republicans fully 
recognize, and will strenuously defend, all the rights 
retained by the people, and all the rights reserved by 
the States, they reject the pernicious doctrine of State 
supremacy, which so long crippled the functions of 
the national government and at the time brought the 
union very near to destruction. They insi>t that 
the United States is a nation, with ample po- er of 
self-preservation; that its constitutions and laws, 



330 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

made in pursuance thereof,are the supreme law of the 
land ; that the right of the nation to determine the 
method by which its own legislature shall be created, 
cannot be surrendered without abdicating one of the 
fundamental powers of government ; that the national 
laws relating to the election of representatives in Con. 
gress shall neither be violated nor evaded ; that every 
elector shall be permitted freely, and without intimida- 
tion, to cast his lawful ballot at each election, and 
have it honestly counted, and that the potency of his 
vote shall not be destroyed by the fraudulent vote of 
any other person. The best thoughts and energies 
of our people should be directed to those great ques- 
tions of national well-being in which all have a com- 
mon interest. Such efforts will soonest restore per- 
fect peace to those who were lately in arms against 
each other, for justice and good-will will outlast pas- 
sion. But it is certain that the wounds of the war 
cannot be completely healed, and the spirit of brother- 
hood cannot fully pervade the whole country, until 
every citizen, rich or poor, white or black, is secure 
in the free and equal enjoyment of every civil and 
equal right guaranteed by the constitution and the 
laws. Wherever the enjoyment of these rights is not 
assured, discontent will prevail, immigration will 
cease, and the social and industrial forces will con- 
tinue to be disturbed by the migration of laborers 
and the consequent diminution of prosperity. The 
national government should exercise all its constitu- 
tional authority to put an end to these evils, for all 
the people and all the .States are members of one 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 331 

body, and no member can suffer without injury to all. 
The most serious evils which now afflict the South 
arise from the fact that there is not such freedom and 
toleration of political opinion and action that the 
minority party can exercise an effective and whole- 
some restraint upon the party in power. Without 
such restraint, party rule becomes tyrannical and cor- 
rupt. The prosperity which is made possible in the 
South, by its great advantages of soil and climate, will 
never be realized until every voter can freely and 
safely support any party he pleases. 

Next in importance to freedom and justice is pop- 
ular education, without which neither justice nor free- 
dom can be permanently maintained. Its interests 
are intrusted to the States and to the voluntary ac- 
tion of the people. Whatever help the nation can 
justly afford should be generously given to aid the 
States in supporting common schools ; but it would be 
unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions 
to apply any portion of the revenues of the nation, or 
of the States, to the support of sectarian schools. 
The separation of the Church and the State in every- 
thing relating to taxation should be absolute. 

On the subject of national finances, my views have 
been so frequently and fully expressed, that little is 
needed in the way of an additional statement. The 
public debt is now so well secured, and the rate of 
annual interest has been so reduced by refunding, that 
right economy in expenditures, and the faithful appli- 
cation of our surplus revenues to the payment of the 
principal of the debt will gradually, but certamly, free 



332 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the people from its burdens, and close with honor 
the financial chapter of the war. At the same time, 
the government can provide for all its ordinary ex- 
penditures, and discharge its sacred obligations to the 
soldiers of the union and to the widows and orphans 
of those who fell in its defense. The resumption of 
specie payments, which the Republican party so 
courageously and successfully accomplished, has re- 
moved from the field of controversy many questions 
that long and seriously disturbed the credit of the 
government and the business of the country. Our 
paper currency is now as national as the flag, and 
resumption has not only made it everywhere equal 
to coin, but has brought into use our share of gold 
and silver. The circulating medium is more abun- 
dant than ever before, and we need only maintain the 
equality of all our dollars to insure to labor and capi- 
tal a measure of value, from the use of which no one 
can suffer loss. The great prosperity which the 
country is now enjoying should not be endangered by 
any violent changes or doubtful financial experi- 
ments. 

In reference to our custom laws, a policy should 
be pursued which will bring revenues to the treasury, 
and enable labor and capital, employed in our great 
industries, to compete fairly in our own markets with 
the labor and capital of foreign producers. We legis- 
late for the people of the United States, not for the 
whole world ; and it is our glory that the Americafi 
laborer is more intelligent and better paid than his 
foreign competitors. Our country cannot be inde- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 333 

pendent unless its people, with their abundant natu- 
ral resources, possess the requisite skill at any time to 
clothe, arm and equip themselves for war, and in time 
of peace produce all the necessary implements of 
labor. It was the manifest intention of the founders 
of the government to provide for the common defense, 
not by standing armies alone, but by raising a great- 
er army of artisans, whose intelligence and skill 
should powerfully contribute to the safety and glory 
of the nation. 

Fortunately for the interests of commerce, there is 
no longer any formidable opposition to appropriation 
for the improvements of our harbors and great navi- 
gable rivers, provided that the expenditures for that 
purpose are strictly limited to works of national im 
portance. The Mississippi river, with its great tribu- 
taries is of such vital importance to so many millions 
of people, that the safety of its navigation requires 
exceptional consideration. In order to secure to the 
nation the control of all its waters, President Jeffer- 
son negotiated the purchase of a vast territory extend- 
ing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. 
The wisdom of Congress should be invoked to devise 
some plan by which that great river shall cease to be 
a terror to those who dwell upon its banks, and by 
which its shipping may safely carry the industrial 
products of 25,000,000 of people. The interests of 
agriculture, which is the basis of all our material pros- 
perity, and in which seven-twelfths of the population 
are arrayed, as well as the interest of manufactures 
and commerce, demand that the facilities for cheap 



334 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

transportation shall be increased by the use of all our 
great water courses. 

The material interests of this country, the tradi- 
tions of its settlement and the sentiment of our people, 
have led the government to offer the widest hospital- 
ity to emigrants who seek our shores for new and hap- 
pier homes, willing to share the burdens as well as the 
benefits of our society, and intending that their pos- 
terity shall become an undistinguishable part of our 
population. The recent movement of the Chinese to 
our Pacific coast partakes but little of the qualities of 
such an emigration, either in its purposes or its result. 
It is too much like an importation to be welcomed 
without restriction ; too much like an invasion to be 
looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent 
to allow any form of servile labor to be introduced 
among us, under the guise of immigration. Recogniz- 
ing the gravity of this subject, the present administra- 
tion, supported by Congress, has sent to China a com- 
mission of distinguished citizens, for the purpose of 
securing such a modification of the existing treaty as 
will prevent the evils likely to arise from the present 
situation. It is confidently believed that these diplo- 
matic negotiations will be successful, without the loss 
of commercial intercourse between the two powers, 
which promises great increase of reciprocal trade and 
the enlargement of our markets Should these efforts 
fail, it will be the duty of Congress to investigate the 
evils already felt, and prevent their increase by such 
restrictions as, without violence or injustice, will 






OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 335 

i;l^ce upon a sure foundation the peace of our com- 
munities, and the freedom and dignity of labor. 

The appointment of citizens to the various execu- 
tive and judicial offices of the government is, perhaps, 
the most difficult of all duties which the constitution 
has imposed upon the Executive. The convention 
wisely demands that Congress shall co-operate with 
the executive departments in placing the civil service 
on a better basis. Experience has proved that, with 
our frequent changes of administration, no system of 
reform can be made effective and permanent without 
the aid of legislation. Appointments to the military 
and naval service are so regulated by law and custom, 
as to leave but little ground for complaint. It may 
not be wise to make similar regulations by law for 
the civil service ; but, without invading the authority 
or necessary discretion of the Executive, Congress 
should devise a method that will determine the tenure 
of office, and greatly reduce the uncertainty which 
makes that service so uncertain and unsatisfactory. 
Without depriving any officer of his rights as a citi- 
zen, the government should require him to discharge 
all his official duties with intelligence, efficiency and 
faithfulness. To select wisely, from our vast popula- 
tion, those who are best fitted for the many offices to 
be filled, requires an acquaintance far beyond the 
range of any one man. The Executive should, there- 
fore, seek and receive the information and assistance 
of those whose knowledge of the communities, in 
which the duties are to be performed, best qualifies 
them to aid in making the wisest choice. 



33^ THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The doctrines announced in the Chicago conven- 
tion, are not the temporary devices of a party to 
attract votes and carry an election ; they are deliber- 
ate convictions, resulting from a careful study of the 
spirit of our institutions, the events of our history 
and the best impulses of our people. In my judg- 
ment, these principles should control the legislation 
and administration of the government. In any event, 
they will guide my conduct until experience points 
out a better way. If elected, it will be my purpose 
to enforce strict obedience to the constitution and 
the laws, and to promote, as best I may, the interest 
and honor of the whole country, relying for support 
upon the wisdom of Congress, the intelligence and 
patriotism of the people and the favor of God. 

With great respect, I am 
Very truly yours, 

J. A. Garfield. 
To Hon. George F. Hoar, 

Chairman of the Committee. 

Awaiting the future events in this great mans 
career with intense interest, and feeling that what- 
ever may be his experience or success hereafter, 
" the past at least is secure ; " and that his example 
as a boy, scholar, teacher, general and statesman, 
which is now so fortunately brought to the attention 
of the people, is a valuable heritage to bequeath to 
the youth of our land, we lay down this pen, and turn 
to other tasks. 

" Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make ourlives sublime ' ' 




^^"^^/^^^^-y A 



SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



OP 



GEN. CHESTER A. ARTHUR 

OF NEW YORK. 



BIRTH IN VERMONT, — SON OF A BAPTIST CLERGYMAN. — HIS FATHER'S 
LITERARY WORK. — DIFFICULTrES ENCOUNTERED IN HIS EARLY 
LIFE. — GENERAL ARTHUR'S CHILDHOOD. — HIS STUDIES, — HIS 
SPORTS. — PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE. — ENTERING COLLEGE VERY 
YOUNG. — TEACHING SCHOOL. — STUDYING LAW. — SEARCHING FOR 
A PLACE TO PRACTICE. — SETTLEMENT IN NEW YORK. — THE CELE- 
BRATED SLAVE CASES. — CHAMPION OF THE OPPRESSED. — HIS PUB- 
LIC SERVICES. — PRESENT BUSINESS AND POSITION. 

Chester A. Arthur was born, October 5, 1830 
in the town of Fairfield, Franklin County, Vt. His 
father, Rev. William Arthur, D.D., was a somewhat 
noted Baptist clergyman, and was a very learned 
man. It is said, by those who remember him, that 
he possessed an unusual knowledge of general litera- 
ture, and was a ready and entertaining writer, on 
matters of public interest. As a theologian, he was 
an unshaken believer in his creed, and was one of its 
stoutest and most persistent champions. His suc- 
cess and chief merit, as a preacher, lay in his won- 
derful memory, and his talent as a writer, rather 

337 



I 



S3^ A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

than in his oratorical powers. He was a cautious 
thorough student, and was frequently made the 
umpire in theological disputes among his brethren 
in the ministry. 

He was pastor of the Baptist churches at Ben- 
nington, Hinesburg, Fairfield and Williston, in the 
State of Vermont, and in Greenwich, Perry, York, 
Schenectady, Lansingburg, Hoosic, New York City, 
West Troy and Newtonville, in the State of New 
York. 

Fearless in his expression of theological opinions, 
uncompromising in regard to those customs and 
sports of the time which he considered sinful, he 
often made enemies among fashionable people, and 
sometimes was at variance with the ministers of 
other denominations. This was by no means his 
universal experience, but was one of the necessary 
results of unmoved fidelity to his religious faith. 

He is said to be a man who cared but little for 
appearances, and was too much devoted to his books 
to take much care of his dress, or to pay much atten- 
tion to the rules of fashionable society. A noble, 
brave, devoted, sincere preacher of the gospel, as he 
understood it, and wholly given to his ministerial 
work. 

His study of English literature, was carried on by 
him to fit himself better for his sacred work. 

He published several small volumes and pam- 
phlets, mostly upon theological matters ; the most of 
them, however, were printed at the request, and at 
the expense, of his parishioners, or the town author- 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 339 

ities. His noted book upon '• Family Names," shows 
a marvelous amount of research and skill, and has 
given him a place among the most erudite of 
scholars. 

Like a great number of his profession in his time, 
he was a poor man during the larger part of his life, 
and was never wealthy. He had two sons and five 
daughters, and he labored very hard and lived most 
economically, that he might be able to give them an 
education. He was a self-made man, coming to this 
country, from Antrim, Ireland, when he was eighteen 
years old, and the prejudice against his nationality, 
with his reduced circumstances, made his early life a 
laborious and trying one. 

He died at Newtonville, New York, October 2^^ 
1875, honored, respected, and sincerely mourned, by 
thousands of Christian men and women. 

Chester was the oldest child in the family of 
seven , and, in his early days, had but few luxuries 
or toys, with which to make life attractive. The 
very worst, and the most disagreeable, situation in 
which a child can be placed, is to be the son of a 
preacher of the gospel. In the atmosphere of a 
rigid adherence to the set rules of morality, with a 
consciousness of a constant watchfulness on the part 
of his parents, lest he should do something improper, 
hampers and irritates him into uneasiness, and usu- 
ally into chronic rebellion. He is flattered and petted 
by the parishioners, who hope thus to please their 
dear pastor ; and finding that the opinion, which 
other people tell him they have of his goodness and 



340 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

smartness, does not agree with the estimation in 
which he is held by his father and mother, he nat- 
urally adopts the most agreeable conclusion, and 
believes the inconsiderate flatterers, and loses re- 
spect for the advice or commands of his parents. 
Then, being the center of attention on the part of 
so many people, over whom the preacher is desir- 
ous to exert a good influence no less by example 
than precept, the preacher goes to the other ex- 
treme, and tries to make staid and sensible old 
people of his children, while they are yet in early 
childhood. This frets and sours them, until they 
hate the name of a church, and disrespect all things 
connected with it. It is a bondage, from which the 
children persistently attempt to escape, and too often 
they succeed in shaking off all restraint, and end 
their lives in debauchery or crime. 

Such is the record of many ministers' sons ; and 
when one has the natural character, and chooses the 
path to greatness, in spite of all these hinderances, 
he is worthy of a double honor. 

The difflculties and temptations which usually 
beset a preacher's son, were not strangers to Ches- 
ter, and it is said that he sometimes exhibited that 
independence of restraint, and dislike of parental 
control, which is so universal with such boys. He 
is said, by the old neighbors, to have been a boy who 
was full of life and roguishness, having a far greater 
interest in his sports than in his books. Yet his 
affection for his parents .was very strong, and he 
could not bear to grieve them. That was his anchor 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 34I 

as a boy. To please them, he would study or work, 
or do disagreeable tasks, which no amount of driving 
would compel him to do. He was sharp and quick 
in his studies, and found much time for play, while 
other boys were pursuing their lessons. 

He had many advantages over other boys, in the 
help which his father readily gave him, and in the 
guides and hints concerning his lessons, which his 
father's library supplied. His father's circumstances 
were such that the eldest son was compelled to labor 
frequently, and was a most vigorous workman in 
such farm work, or shop jobs, as he could get. 

The greater portion of his time, however, was 
given to study with his father, or at school. At the 
early age of fourteen, he was prepared to enter 
Union College. 

At that time, he is represented as a rather slender 
boy, eager in play, and always the leader among his 
school-mates in all their sports. Especially was this 
the case when anything that appeared dangerous or 
venturesome was undertaken by them. He always 
took an active interest in parades and political pro- 
cessions, and was always on hand with his torch, 
whenever a party jubilee was held. He was not dis- 
tinguished, in his college life, beyond the general 
record of his class, and must have found it difficult 
work to keep pace with a class of young men so 
much older than he. He is said to have been a 
great lover of athletic sports, and was a favorite 
with his class. 

When he left Union College, he had no capital 



342 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

but his education, with which to begin life, and his 
father was neither disposed, nor able, to give him 
further assistance. He then succeeded in finding a 
country school in Vermont, to which he was recom- 
mended by some of his father's acquaintances, and 
where he taught, through the winter months, for two 
years. Having determined to pursue the study of 
the law, he began to procure such books as were 
preparatory to it, and worked with great diligence, 
and saved his money with great care, in order to 
secure the necessary education to admit him to the 
bar. In 1850 he had saved nearly five hundred 
dollars, and he determined to go to New York, and 
study law in an office. In that city, he secured a 
place in the office of the Hon. E. D. Culver, and, 
living as cheaply as possible, he applied himself 
wholly to his books. His legal abilities were remark- 
able, and his progress very rapid ; so that he at once 
attracted the attention and commendation of distin- 
guished lawyers, with whom he became acquainted. 
His room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, was also an 
active and brilliant young man, and Chester became 
quite intimate witli him. This social friendship at 
last ripened into a determination to form a partner- 
ship, which was accomplished as soon as they were 
admitted to the bar. But they did not then propose 
to remain in the great city of New York, where it 
seemed so difficult for young men to get a foothold, 
in the practice of the law. They dreamed of wider 
fields, and larger fees, in the great new West. 

With the hope of finding some place to locate, the 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 343 

young men started for the Western States, and wan- 
dered about for some time, finding no satisfactory 
opening. Reluctantly, they turned homeward, and, 
soon after, opened an office in New York. To the 
surprise of themselves and many older lawyers, they 
secured a profitable practice at once, and within 
three years were known to the whole city as lawyers 
of standing and ability. Two or three important 
cases connected with matters of public interest con- 
tributed much towards their success. 

One of these cases was the celebrated Lemmon 
slave case, which attracted the angry attention of the 
whole nation. 

Jonathan Lemmon of Virginia, brought a suit to re- 
cover possession of eight slaves that had been declared 
free by Judge Paine of the superior court of New 
York. Lemmon had been incautiously passing through 
New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to 
Texas, when they were discovered and freed by order 
of Judge Paine. The judge was of the opinion that 
the fugitive slave law did not hold these slaves when 
once they were brought within the territory of New 
York. The state of Virginia directed its attorney- 
general to appeal from Judge Paine's decision. The 
legislature of this State responded to the challenge, by 
requesting the governor to employ counsel to defend 
the case. The Hon. E. D. Culver and Joseph Blunt, 
Esq., were appointed. Afterward they withdrew, and 
young Arthur, who had been a student in Mr. Culver's 
office, was appointed. He associated with himself 
William M. Evarts, Esq., as counsel, and argued the 



344 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

case before the Supreme Court, Charles O'Connor, 
being one of the counsel for the slave-holder. That 
court sustained Judge Paine's decision. The case 
was then appealed to the court of appeals. There also 
the judgment of Judge Paine was affirmed — and 
henceforth, no slave-holder dared venture into New 
York State with his slaves. 

In 1856, colored people were not permitted to ride 
on the Fourth avenue horse cars in New York. Lizzie 
Jennings, a colored woman of excellent character, 
superintendent of a Sunday-school, was roughly ex- 
pelled from a Fourth avenue car because she was 
black. Arthur brought a suit against the railroad 
company in her behalf. He argued the case before 
Judge Rockwell in a Brooklyn court. The jury gave 
a verdict of five hundred dollars' damages in favor of 
the colored woman. The damages were paid by the 
railroad company, and henceforth, colored people rode 
without question on the cars of all the street lines in 
New York. 

He became known as the champion of the colored 
people, and his docket was filled with cases at each 
session of the court. He became naturally interested 
in the negro race, and a determined opponent of 
slavery. He was one of the original advocates of the 
formation of the Republican party, and attended its 
first meeting at Saratoga. 

He seems never to have sought political promo- 
tion; but being a genial, good-natured man, naturally 
enjoying good fellowship and lively company, he took 
pleasure in the companionship which military associ- 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 345 

ations gave, and contracted, through them, a love for 
military manoeuvres and parades. 

His interest in military matters, and his known 
abilities as a lawyer, secured for him the appoint- 
ment, in 1858, of judge-advocate of the 2d brigade of 
the New York militia. This was soon followed by a 
promotion to be chief engineer on the staff of Gov- 
ernor Morgan of New York, and, two years later, l:)y 
the promotion to the office of inspector-general of 
that State. 

At the opening of the war, when the difficulties of 
supplying the New York troops with clothing and 
provisions, seemed almost insurmountable, General 
Arthur accepted the important trust of quartermas- 
ter-general which he held until the expiration of 
Morgan's term of office. No higher encomium can 
be passed upon him than the mention of thefact that 
the war account of the State of New York was at least 
ten times larger than that of any other State, yet it 
was the first audited and allowed in Washington, and 
without the deduction of a dollar, while the quarter- 
master's accounts from other States were reduced from 
;^ 1,000,000 to ^10,000,000. During the term of office, 
every present sent to him was immediately returned. 
Among others, a prominent clothing house offered 
him a magnificent uniform, and a printing house sent 
him a costly saddle and trappings. Both gifts were 
indignantly rejected. When General Arthur became 
quartermaster-general, he was poor. When his term 
expired he was poorer still. He had opportunities 
to make millions unquestioned. He had to provide 



346 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

for the clothing, arming and transportation of hun- 
dreds of thousands of men. But with a rigid simpUci- 
ty in his own life and the enforcement of economy 
upon subordinates, he, by example and command, 
saved to the State great sums of money. He took 
great pains to carry on all his public business so 
openly, justly and carefully as to avoid the possibiUty 
of loss or suspicion of fraud. One of his favorite say- 
ings at this time, when his friends felt that he was too 
precise in his drafts and accounts of army contracts, 
was a quotation from Plutarch's life of Caesar, — 
" Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." 

In conversation with an acquaintance in 1862, he 
said, '' If I had misappropriated five cents, and on 
walking down town saw two men talking on the 
corner together, I would imagine they were talking 
of my dishonesty, and the very thought would drive 
me mad." 

At the expiration of Governor Morgan's term. 
General Arthur returned to his law practice. Busi- 
ness of the most lucrative character poured in upon 
him, and the firm of Arthur & Gardiner prospered 
exceedingly. Much of their work consisted in the 
collection of war claims, and the drafting of important 
bills for speedy legislation, and a great deal of Gener- 
al Arthur's time was spent in Albany and Washing- 
ton, where his uniform success won for him a national 
reputation. For a short time, he held the position of 
counsel to the board of tax commissioners of New 
York, at ^10,000 per annum. 

He secured the nomination and the election of the 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 34/ 

Hon. Thomas Murphy as State senator. He also took 
an active and friendly interest in securing the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Murphy as collector of the port of 
New York, and when Mr. Murphy resigned on 
November 20, 1871, President Grant nominated 
General Arthur to the vacant position. And four 
years later, when his term expired, re-nominated him, 
an honor that had never been shown to any previous 
collector in the history of the port. 

In 1878, a difference arose between General Arthur 
and President Hayes with reference to the interpre- 
tation of the civil service rules adopted by the gov- 
ernment. Collector Arthur believed that the same 
efficiency and honesty might be secured by less 
troublesome machinery than that which Mr. Hayes 
insisted upon his using, and the difference of opinion 
was made by both a matter of conscience in view 
of their duty to the nation. President Hayes removed 
him from the office during a vacation of Congress, 
notwithstanding the fact that two special Congres- 
sional committees made searching investigation into 
his administration, and both reported themselves un- 
able to find anything upon which to base a charge 
against him. Tn announcing the change, both Presi- 
dent Hayes and Secretary Sherman bore official wit- 
ness to the purity of his acts while in office. 

He has been an active and Uberal man in political 
matters, and holds the position of Chairman of the 
New York State Republican Central committee. 

General Arthur is considered by artists to be a very 
handsome person, having an intelligent, pleasant 



348 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

countenance, broad shoulders, strong, full muscles, 
and being over six feet tall. 

He was married in 1852 to Miss Herndon, daughter 
of Lieutenant Herndon of the United States navy, 
whose widow received a gold medal from Congress 
in recognition of his bravery. General Arthur's wife 
died in 1879. 

General Arthur furnishes another example of the 
general rule, that the greatest men are self-made 
men. 

On the 1 8th of July, 1880, General Chester A. 
Arthur accepted the Republican nomination for 
Vice-president, in the following letter : 

New York, July 15, 1880. 
Dear Sir\ — I accept the position assigned me by 
the great party whose action you announce. The 
acceptance implies approval of the principles declared 
by the convention, but recent usage permits me to 
assume expression of my views, thoughts and duty. 
To secure honesty and order, in popular elections, is 
a matter so vital that it must stand in front. The 
authority of the national government to preserve 
from fraud and force, elections at which its own offi- 
cers are chosen, is a chief point on which the two 
parties are plainly and intensely opposed. Acts of 
Congress for ten years, in New York and elsewhere, 
have done much to curb the violence and wrong to 
which the ballot and the count have been again and 
again subjected, sometimes despoiling great cities, 
sometimes stifling the voice of a whole State, often 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 349 

seating, not only in Congress, but on the bench and 
in the legislature, numbers of men never chosen by 
the people. The Democratic party, since gaining 
possession of the two Houses of Congress, has made 
these just laws the object of bitter, ceaseless assault, 
and, despite all resistance, has hedged them with re- 
strictions, cunningly contrived, to baffle and paralyze 
them. This aggressive majority boldly attempted to 
extort from the Executive his approval of various 
enactments, destructive of the election laws, by the 
revolutionary threat that the constitutional exercise 
of the veto power would be punished by withholding 
the appropriations necessary to carry on the govern- 
ment ; and these threats were actually carried out, by 
refusing the needed appropriations, and by forcing 
an extra session of Congress, lasting for months, and 
resulting in concessions to this usurping demand, 
which are likely, in many States, to subject the ma- 
jority to the lawless will of a minority. Ominous 
signs of public disapproval alone subdued this arro- 
gant power into a sullen surrender, for the time be- 
ing, of a part of its demands. The Republican party 
has strongly approved the stern refusal of its repre- 
sentatives to suffer the overthrow of statutes, be- 
lieved to be salutary and just. It has always insisted, 
and now insists, that the government of the United 
States of America is empowered, and in duty bound, 
to effectually protect the elections denoted by the 
constitution as national. More than this, the Re- 
publican party holds, as a cardinal point in its creed, 
that the government should, by every means known 



350 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

to the constitution, protect all American citizens, 
everywhere, in the full enjoyment of their civil and 
political rights. As a great part of the work of re- 
construction, the Republican party gave the ballot to 
the emancipated slave, as his right and defense. A 
larsre increase in the number of members of Con- 
gress, and of the electoral college, from the former 
slave-holding States, was the immediate result. The 
history of recent years abounds in evidence that in 
many ways and in many places, especially where 
their number has been great enough to endanger 
Democratic control, the very men by whose elevation 
to citizenship this increase of representation was 
effected, have been debarred and robbed of their 
voice and their vote. It is true that no State statute 
or constitution, in so many words, denies or abridges 
the exercise of their political rights, but the modes 
employed to bar their way are no less effectual. It 
is a suggestive and startling thought, that the in- 
creased power, derived from the enfranchisement of 
a race, now denied its share in governing the country, 
wielded by those who lately sought the overthrow of 
the government, is now the sole reliance to defeat 
the party which represents the sovereignty and na- 
tionality of the American people, in the greatest 
crisis of our history. Republicans cherish none of 
the resentments which may have animated them 
during the actual conflict of arms. They long for a 
full and real reconciliation between the sections 
which were needlessly and lamentably at strife ; they 
sincerely offer the hand of good will, but they ask, in 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 35 1 

return, the hand of good faith. They deeply feel 
that the party, whose career is so illustriously great 
in patriotic achievements, will not fulfill its desthiy 
until peace and prosperity are established in all tlie 
land, nor until liberty of thought, conscience, and 
action, and equality of opportunity, shall not be 
merely cold formalities of statutes, but living birth- 
rights, which the humble may confidently claim, and 
the powerful dare not deny. 

The resolution referring to the public service 
seems to be deserving of approval. Surely no man 
should be the incumbent of an office, the duties cf 
which he is, for any cause, unfit to perform, who is 
lacking in the ability, in the fidelity or integrity 
which a proper administration of such office demands. 
This sentiment would doubtless meet with general 
acquiescence, but opinion has been widely di\dded 
upon the wisdom and practicability of the various re- 
formatory schemes which have been suggested, and 
of certain proposed regulations governing appoint- 
ments to public office. The efficiency of such regu- 
lations has been distrusted, mainly because they have 
seemed to exalt mere educational and abstract tests 
above general business capacity, and even spec'al fit- 
ness for the particular work in hand. It seeuis to 
me that the rules which should be applied to the 
management of the public service may properl}' con- 
form, in the main, to such as regulate the cond act of 
successful private business. Original appointiaents 
should be based on ascertained fitness. The tmure 
of office should be stable. Positions of responsibility 



352 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

should, SO far as practicable, be filled by the promo- 
tion of worthy and efficient officers. The investiga- 
tion of all complaints, and the punishment of all 
official misconduct, should be prompt and thorough- 
These views, which I have long held, repeatedly de- 
clared, and uniformly applied, when called upon to 
act, I find embodied in the resolution, which, of 
course, I approve. I will add that, by the acceptance 
of public office, whether high or low, one does not, 
in my judgment, escape any of his responsibilities as 
a citizen, nor lose or impair any of a citizen's rights ; 
that he should enjoy absolute liberty to think and 
speak and act in political matters, according to his 
own will and conscience, provided, only, that he 
honorably, faithfully and fully discharges all his 
official duties. 

The resumption of specie payment, one of the 
fruits of the Republican party, has brought the re- 
turn of abundant prosperity and the settlement of 
many distracting questions. The restoration of 
sound money, the large reduction of the public debt 
and of the burden of interest, the high advancement 
of the public credit, — all attest the ability and cour- 
age of the Republican party to deal with such finan- 
cial problems as may hereafter demand solution. 
Our paper currency is now as good as gold, and sil- 
ver is performing its legitimate functions for the 
purposes of change. The principles which should 
govern the relations of these elements of the curren- 
cy are simple and clear. There must be no deteriora- 
ted coin, no depreciated paper, and every dollar, 



GENERAL CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 353 

whether of metal or- paper, should stand the te-,t of 
the world's fixed standard. 

The value of popular education can hardly be cver- 
stated, although its interests of necessity mus( be 
chiefly confided to voluntary effort and the indivriual 
action of the several States. They should be encour- 
aged, so far as the constitution permits, by the g;en- 
erous co-operation of the national government. The 
interests of the whole country demand that the ad- 
vantage of our American school system should be 
brought within the reach of every citizen, a-id 'hat 
no revenue of the realm or of the State should be de- 
voted to the support of sectarian schools, buch 
changes should be made in the present tariff and sys- 
tem of taxation as will relieve any overburdened 
industry or class, and enable our manufacturers and 
artisans to compete successfully with those of other 
lands The governuient should aid works of int( rna 
improvement national in their character, and should 
promote the development of our watercourses and 
harbors, wherever the general interests of commerce 
require it. Four years ago, as now, the nation stood 
at the threshold of a presidential election, and the 
Republican party founded its hope of success, not 
upon its promises, but upon its history. Its subse- 
quent course has been such as to strengthen thecla.ms 
which it then made to the confidence and support oi 
the country. On the other hand, considerati ms 
more urgent than have ever before- existed forbid he 
elevation of their opponents to power. Their success, 
if success attends them, must chiefly come from the 

23 



354 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL ARTHUR. 

united support of that section which sought the forci- 
ble disruption of the union, and which, according to 
all the teachings of our past history, will demand 
ascendancy in the councils of the party, to whose 
triumph it will have made by far the largest contri- 
bution. There is the gravest reason for apprehen- 
sion that exorbitant claims on the public treasury, by 
no means limited to the hundreds of millions already 
covered by bills introduced in Congress, within the 
past four years, would be successfully urged if the 
Democratic party should succeed in supplementing 
its present control of the national legislature, by 
electing the Executive also. There is danger in in- 
trusting the control of the whole law-making power 
of the government to a party which has, in almost 
every Southern State, repudiated obligations quite as 
sacred as those to which the faith of the nation now 
stands pledged. I do not doubt that success awaits 
the Republican party, and that its triumph will assure 
a just, economical and patriotic administration. I am 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. A. Arthur. 

To Hon. George F. Hoar, President of the Re- 
publican National Convention. 



Thus the people of the United States have pre- 
sented to them, as candidates for President and Vice- 
President, on the Republican ticket of 1880, two 
able and tried men, who came from among the Intel- 



OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 355 

ligent laboring classes, and who, by the force of their 
own genius and industry, have achieved fame and 
greatness. Whatever may be said for or against 
other candidates, or for or against the principles of 
either party, the lives of these men have showed 
them well fitted for the important posts for which 
their party has selected them. They will be ma- 
ligned ; they will be fiercely assailed by those un- 
principled politicians, whose interests are with the 
opposing party. It seems to be one of the necessary 
evils of our political contests. It must be expected 
that falsehoods will appear, and wise men will let 
them all pass unnoticed. Good and evil, right and 
wrong, are ever antagonistic, and no good man, and 
no strong man, who is right, can get through life, 
even in private, without enemies. But when he 
ascends the political rostrum, the battle is still more 
fierce, and much more malicious. In this campaign 
we have already seen much of such a spirit, and even 
an unoslentatious visit to New York by General 
Garfield, rn August of the present year, was taken 
as an occasion for hundreds of foolish surmises and 
false accusations, on the part of his opponents. 

There occurred, on the day of General Garfield's 
nomination, two very singular incidents, which, to 
the superstitious, would appear to be prophetic of 
his success. As the General entered the door of 
the hall, in Chicago, in which the Convention was 
held, on the last day of the session, a tract dis- 
tributor, who was a stranger to him, stood near the 



^^ 



356 



entrance, distributing leaves of the New Testament, 
or slips of paper on which verses of the Bible were 
printed. Every person who passed in was given 
one, and General Garfield received one, among the 
others. He did not read it then, but hastily stuffed 
it into his pocket, and forgot about both the dis- 
tributor and the tract. He was somewhat aston- 
ished afterwards, at his hotel, amid his telegrams of 
congratulation which he took from his pocket, to 
find these words, from Acts iv., 11-12 : "This is the 
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which 
is become the head of the corner; neither is there 
salvation in any other." 

The other incident occurred at Washington, also 
on the day of his nomination. At the very time he 
was declared to be the nominee of the great Con- 
vention at Chicago amid shouts and wild enthusi- 
asm, a very large eagle hovered over the city of 
Washington, and settled down upon the roof of 
General Garfield's city residence, where for a long 
time he sat, and flapped his strong wings, to the 
astonishment and delight of a crowd of people. 



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